Refuge Notebook

Volume 3 • 2001

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge ii

This volume was compiled in 2015 by Jennifer Peura from the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge’s archive of Refuge Notebook articles. Formatting has been improved, some hyperlinks (URI’s) have been updated, and minor edits were made, but the articles have mostly been unchanged. Contents

Contents iii

1 New Year’s resolutions for the Peninsula homeowner, Doug Newbould 1

2 A snowy owl visits the Kenai Peninsula, Elizabeth Jozwiak 2

3 Winter months mean training and summer preparation, Bill Kent 3

4 Reflected heat warms Earth, man, and moose alike, Ed Berg 4

5 User fees finance refuge services, Pam Ables 6

6 Critters’ fire survival instincts often better than ours, Doug Newbould 8

7 Concern for wilderness caribou, Rick Ernst 10

8 Winter use of Kenai National Wildlife Refuge cabins, Rick Johnston 12

9 Unsolved mystery: deformed-bill black-capped chickadees, Ted Bailey 14

10 Little guys of the plant world area hidden treat, Ed Burg 16

11 Kenai to host Alaska Regional FireWise Workshop, April 25-27, Doug Newbould 18

12 Kenai Peninsula has its ups and downs, Ed Berg 19

13 Dogs on the Wildlife Refuge, Candace Ward 21

14 International Conference of Fire Service Women, Alicia Duzinski 23

15 Proof of woolly mammoth presence on refuge land lacking, Jim Hall 25

16 Mysterious ‘black-ring condition’ on birches confounds biologists, Ed Berg 27

17 Awaiting the return of the loons, Elizabeth Jozwiak 29

18 Reminiscences of a game warden, Chris Johnson 30

19 “Why firewise?”—1996 Crooked Creek Fire, Doug Newbould 32

20 What happened to my campground?, Bill Kent 33

21 Years of knowledge and experience go out the door, Rick Ernst 35

22 Ch..Ch…Ch…Changes, Brenda Wise 37

23 Refuge plans prescribed fire projects at Mystery Creek and Funny River, Doug Newbould 38

24 Dad’s day on the Russian River, Rick Johnston 39

iii Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3 • 2001

25 Hmmmmmm…..was that a hummingbird?, Todd Eskelin 42

26 Jim Frates retires, was former Moose Range Chief, Samantha Bartling 44

27 Did beetle-kill forests burn in the past?, Ed Berg 46

28 Refuge bird expert shares birding knowledge and skills, Candace Ward 48

29 How will beetle-killed forest look in 40 years, Ed Berg 49

30 The Mystery Hills Fire offers us a snapshot, Doug Newbould 51

31 Antlers, horns and their place in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Robin West 54

32 Season brings memories of family hunts along Yukon River, Mimi Thomas 56

33 What are all those plastic-covered piles along Funny River Road?, Doug Newbould 58

34 Humble peat mosses store global carbon, show amazing variety, Ed Berg 59

35 Kenai National Wildlife Refuge concept born during 1897 hunt, Gary Titus 61

36 Kenai National Wildlife Refuge celebrates 60th birthday, Bill Kent 63

37 Conservation pledge gives greater meaning to wilderness, Doug Newbould 64

38 Disappearing kettle ponds reveal a drying Kenai Peninsula, Ed Berg 66

39 Waterfowl hunting evokes early memories, creates new ones, Rick Johnston 68

40 How chickadees thrive in the long, cold Alaska winters, Todd Eskelin 70

41 Trapping then and now on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Gary Titus 71

42 Firewood gathering can be a fun, family activity, Doug Newbould 73

43 Project Feeder Watch lets backyard birders assist in research, Todd Eskelin 75

44 Peninsula’s magical winter wonderland awaits kids of all ages, Nicole Johnson 76

45 Jigsaw Lake shows Central Peninsula was very dry 8600 years ago, Ed Berg 77

46 Losing one of your own, Robin West 79

47 Cycles of nature evident in short walk through wildlife refuge, Ed Berg 81

48 DNA from poached moose extends long arm of law in refuge, Chris Johnson 83

49 Unusual mammal may be roaming woods of peninsula, Ted Bailey 85

iv USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 1 • January 5, 2001

New Year’s resolutions for the Peninsula homeowner by Doug Newbould

As if Y2K could get any stranger—the Yukon Delta • I will create a defensible space around my house National Wildlife Refuge experienced a 15,000 acre and outbuildings. wildfire last week! I don’t know about you, butI am glad to see the year 2000 in my rear-view mirror. • I will install a visible address sign at my house From a firefighter’s perspective, it was the worst year and make sure the local street signs are clearly I’ve ever experienced, and I don’t want to see its re- labeled. enactment in 2001 either. Looking back, a useful motto • I will make sure emergency vehicles can use my last January might have been, “Expect the unexpected driveway and can turn around safely. in 2000.” As a firefighter and fire manager, I have made that motto my creed: “Always expect the unexpected.” • I will establish an emergency water supply for And I can say truthfully, it has served me well through- power outages. out my firefighting career. As a homeowner here in Alaska, I know there are • I will retrofit/remodel the exterior of my home many practical things I can and should do to prepare with fire-resistant materials. my home and property for the next natural or man- • I will get to know my neighbors and talk with caused disaster—be it wildfire, earthquake or volcanic them about disaster mitigation and prepared- eruption. We can mitigate or reduce the impacts of ness. disasters, improve our survivability, and decrease the time and resources needed to recover from a catas- This list of resolutions might be more than aper- trophic event if we plan ahead for the unexpected. son or family could handle in one year, depending on So here are some practical New Year’s resolutions their current level of preparedness, their financial re- for the Peninsula homeowner: sources and their level of commitment. And this is not meant to be a complete list. I’m sure you can think of • I will install, replace and/or inspect my smoke other things you can do to prepare for the unexpected. alarms, carbon monoxide detectors, fire extin- Whatever you do, try not to be intimidated by this list. guishers and home sprinkler system. Many of these resolutions can be accomplished with- • I will clean my chimney or stovepipe at least out a lot of effort or expense. You know there is only twice this year. one way to eat an elephant—one bite at a time. If you would like more information about disaster • I will review and practice fire escape and earth- mitigation measures for your home, contact the Ke- quake plans with my family. nai Peninsula Borough’s Office of Emergency Manage- ment, your local fire department or me. Let’s expect • I will prepare/inspect survival kits in my home the unexpected and make ourselves ready. 2001—Here and vehicles. We Come! • I will strap the water heater and tall fur- Doug Newbould is the Fire Management Officer at niture/appliances to the walls, install safety the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. He is currently latches on the cabinets and make sure the house serving on two Kenai Peninsula Borough Project Impact is properly anchored to its foundation. committees and is a member of the Kenai Peninsula Fire Chiefs Association. For more information about the • I will install ‘safety shield’ window film on my Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Sol- windows and keep a supply of plastic and ply- dotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at http://www. wood to cover windows that break out. fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 1 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 2 • January 12, 2001

A snowy owl visits the Kenai Peninsula by Elizabeth Jozwiak

If you spent your summers on the windswept The heaviest of North American owls, the snowy plains of the Arctic, where would you spend your win- owl stands almost one half meter tall. The female is ters? How about the Kenai Peninsula? Well surpris- larger and heavier than the male and can be slightly ingly that’s where one juvenile snowy owl landed last darker in color than the male, which may be almost November. The “snowy” was found along the bluffs pure white. The ear-like feather tufts characteristic north of Kenai by a good Samaritan who noticed it of many species of owls are greatly reduced in snowy wasn’t able to fly. After being examined by a local vet- owls and are rarely visible, giving the head a typically erinarian for injuries and given a clean bill of health, rounded outline. This is one of only a few species of the owl is now fattening up on voles, lemmings and owls which is active during the day. other small mammals as it recuperates from its trav- Years ago when I just graduated from college and els. worked one summer for the Arctic NWR on the Arc- Two other snowy owls made an appearance in tic coastal plain, I was fortunate to see snowy owls Sitka in November, giving local birders an opportunity nesting on their breeding grounds. The nest was just to observe one of the most striking and distinctive of a shallow depression scraped in the ground by the fe- the world’s 146 species of owls. male. Most nests were located up on a knoll or tussock So why are these large, mostly white owls show- on the tundra, which provided the incubating females ing up in areas outside their usual winter range? Like with a commanding view of the surrounding terrain. most other Arctic-breeding raptors, the movements of The breeding success of snowy owls is very depen- this species are sporadic in nature, rather than consist- dent on the lemming population in regions where owls ing of regular migration routes. Some biologists be- depend on this small chunky mammal for food. When lieve the availability of their main food source (which lemmings are very abundant, the owls respond by lay- is primarily lemmings and voles) dictates where they ing as many as 11 or 12 eggs. When lemmings are decide to winter. Other owl researchers believe that less numerous, clutch size is reduced to four-six eggs. their wintering grounds are influenced by a combina- Snowy owls may not nest at all for a year or two if the tion of large scale weather events in addition to the lemming population crashes, or they may move 50-100 variable abundance of their prey. Snowy owls are a kilometers and breed in another area where lemmings common sight in northern Alaska above the Arctic are more numerous. Circle but are rare visitors to Southcentral and south- coastal Alaska. They breed in the summer along the Snowy owls seem to be well adapted to cope with north slope of Alaska, the Arctic tundra of Canada, changes to their environment and their food supply. and along the northern coast of the continent from the While food shortages may be a danger, their mobil- Yukon to Labrador. ity permits them to move to areas where food supplies Some snowy owls remain over the winter in the ar- are sufficient. Some immature, inexperienced birds eas where they nest. Others migrate to more southern that wander beyond their normal winter range (such latitudes, wintering on the prairies of western Canada, as our recent visitor) may suffer from starvation, but southern Ontario and Quebec, the northern United human activities probably still pose the greatest dan- States, and sporadically as far south as central Cali- ger to owls that winter in settled areas. fornia and the Gulf states from Texas to Florida. It is Elizabeth Jozwiak is a wildlife biologist at the Ke- mostly first-year birds that visit these less frequented nai National Wildlife Refuge. She studies a variety of areas, with relatively few adult owls appearing. On species, but enjoys every opportunity to work with owls. average immature males winter farthest south, adult For more information about the Refuge, visit the head- females farthest north, with adult males and immature quarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or females in between. see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

2 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 3 • January 19, 2001

Winter months mean training and summer preparation by Bill Kent

Those of us on the Visitor Services staff atKenai services to you and others and to make a visit to Ke- Refuge stay busy through the winter even though the nai Refuge a safe and enjoyable experience. We also throngs of visitors are not around as in July. This is use this time to review the training we provide to our the time of year we tackle the never-ending paperwork seasonal employees so they are prepared to assist you that is part and parcel of working for the government, when you visit the Refuge this summer. attend training courses, and continue with the ever- A great deal of our time in the winter is used to present preparations for our summer programs. prepare for the upcoming “busy season.” Currently, At times, it would seem there is a specific office one of the projects we are busy with is working with somewhere in Washington, D.C., whose sole purpose a contractor to develop and produce interpretive and is generating reporting requirements. Although I am information signing for the new visitor facilities at sure each of these reports fulfills an important ac- Moose Range Meadows, along the south bank of the countability function, there are times when you just Kenai River on Keystone Drive. We plan on hav- have to wonder… how many times can you count ing information there regarding riverbank protection, the number of vehicles, boats, toilets, or other pieces visitor safety, sockeye fishing techniques and other of equipment? Is there someone back there on the topics. Our law enforcement staff continue their pa- east coast who thinks we lost a toilet, or misplaced trols throughout the winter, checking on fishermen, the grader during the past year? I can assure them trappers, and other Refuge users to insure compliance (and you) that we would let someone know if either of with laws and regulation and to assist visitors who those incidents occurred. My guess is, because we are may need help with one problem or another. Another funded by Congress, these reports are probably used task is reviewing and selecting volunteer applications to reassure our elected representatives that we are ac- sent to us by the Student Conservation Association for tually using the equipment purchased with those ap- positions assisting us with spring/summer/fall visitor propriated funds. services and environmental education programs. One The winter months are also when we complete a of the bigger projects this year is planning the celebra- great deal of mandatory training in such areas as su- tion of the 60th anniversary of Kenai National Wildlife pervision, pilot accreditation, law enforcement, first- Refuge; President Franklin Roosevelt signed the order aid and CPR refresher, aircraft safety, interpretation, to create the Kenai National Moose Range on Decem- and education outreach. Personally, I am a firm be- ber 16th, 1941. (With everything else on his mind at liever in training in order to keep employees’ skills that time, I am amazed he took the time to take that and enthusiasm at a high level, both for the employees’ action.) We will be providing more information on benefit and our visitors. It is the policy at Kenai Refuge this celebration in future Refuge Notebook articles and that each year, everyone gets one training opportunity other means in the coming months. which helps them professionally; this is in addition to whatever mandatory training is scheduled. Some All in all, this time of year means we remain busy of the training opportunities my staff has taken ad- because the work doesn’t take the winter off… it just vantage of over the past years are interpretation skills takes on a different face. development, wilderness stewardship, various law en- Bill Kent is the Supervisory Park Ranger at Kenai forcement skills development courses, environmental NWR. He and his wife and daughter recently moved to education curriculum development, training for qual- Sterling after living in Soldotna for nine years. For more ification as an aircraft safety instructor, and other dis- information about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on ciplines. By attending these various types of train- Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website ing, we are better able to deliver better quality visitor at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 3 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 4 • January 26, 2001

Reflected heat warms Earth, man, and moose alike by Ed Berg

you around blind-folded, and you can still detect the windows even when you have lost your orientation to the room. The principle here is that your body radiates infrared rays; these rays are reflected and re-radiated from the wall, and returned to your palms where you sense them as heat. When you aim your rays at a window, most of them pass through the window glass and are lost to outer space (the sky) or scattered by vegetation, other buildings, etc., beyond the window. It is possible to install transparent heat-reflective films on window glass, which reduce the infrared transmission (i.e., heat loss) through the window. These films actually work, and you can feel thedif- A moose will typically seek thermal cover in the forest. ference with your palms if you compare windows Pictured here at Skilak. with and without the film side-by-side. A room with reflective-film coated windows feels warmer, evenat By any standards this is a strange winter in Alaska. a lower air temperature, because the reflected heat Fairbanks temperatures are about 18℉ above normal warms your skin. The gold-windowed glass office this winter, and Anchorage is up about 10-11℉. My buildings in Anchorage have taken this concept to black Lab is shedding, garden perennials in Homer are near max; full max would be windowless rooms lined sprouting, and the Refuge still hasn’t been opened for with shiny tinfoil, if one didn’t mind the aesthetics! snowmachining, due to lack of sufficient snow. What Wild animals, especially large ones, know well is going on⁉ the virtues of reflected heat. Moose for example seek Meteorologists report that the Aleutian Low Pres- “thermal cover” in the forest, where trees reflect back sure zone is lower than normal, and this has held cloud the moose’s infrared heat, as well as re-radiate heat cover over Alaska since early in November, with few gained from the sun and sky. If we quantify heat en- breaks. Due to the clouds we have missed several good ergy in units of “Snickers bars” (at 290 nutritional calo- aurora displays, a meteor shower, a Christmas solar ries per Snickers bar), a 1000 lb. moose on a calm night eclipse, as well as the cold weather. (2 mph breeze) will lose the equivalent heat of 1.57 Clouds make a great blanket because they reflect Snickers bar per hour, or about 22 Snickers bars per infrared radiation (i.e., radiant heat) back to the earth. 14 hour night. If the moose moves into the woods, it Infrared is invisible to the naked human eye, so it’s will lose only 0.31 Snickers bars/hour or 4.4 Snickers easy to overlook its importance. We all enjoy direct bars per night. Thermal cover thus cuts radiant heat infrared sources like woodstoves and heat lamps, but loss for the moose by 80%. Imagine having your win- have you ever tried to sense reflected infrared heat? ter fuel bill cut by 80%! Here is a simple experiment, for kids of all ages. Stand A good burrow provides a three-dimensional heat in the middle of a room with a large thermopane win- reflector for burrowing critters. A burrow also reduces dow or two. Stretch out your arms together with your heat loss from wind (convection) and evaporation, and palms facing a wall. Shut your eyes and concentrate on if the animal is resting on an insulating bed of grass or your palms; think of them as heat sensors. Now turn leaves, this reduces heat loss by conduction to the bor- slowly and sweep your heat sensors past a window. row floor. You should feel a slight cooling of the palms. Sweep It is possible, however, to overdue a good thing. further to another wall and feel the heat return. Just as clouds (composed of water vapor) reflect back The real test comes when you have someone spin the Earth’s heat and make our winter warmer, the in-

4 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 4 • January 26, 2001

visible carbon dioxide (CO2) gas in the atmosphere re- latitudes. Winters in Alaska have warmed over the flects back heat and warms both the ground andthe last century, and not everyone would say that’s a bad air. As more CO2 is added from fossil fuel consump- thing. tion (beyond natural sources like respiration, volcanos, Ed Berg has been the ecologist at the Kenai National forest fires, etc.), the atmosphere is becoming abet- Wildlife Refuge since 1993. Information about Snick- ter reflector and we are experiencing global warm- ers bars and moose is from the excellent book “Winter: ing. In all fairness, however, we probably shouldn’t an Ecological Handbook” by James Halfpenny and Roy blame this particular warm winter on global warming. Ozanne, 1989, Johnson Books publisher. For more infor- Strong Aleutian Lows (and cloudy winters) come and mation about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski go over the years and decades, but long-term warm- Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at ing trend is hard to ignore, especially in the northern http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 5 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 5 • February 2, 2001

User fees finance refuge services by Pam Ables

you about each type and what happens to the money once the refuge has collected it. Alaska Natural History Association (ANHA): When you buy a book or item at the visitor center or visitor contact station near Jim’s Landing, you actually buy from ANHA, a non-profit organization dedicated to the education and understanding of Alaska’s public landowners. There are many ANHA outlets throughout the state at other refuges, national forests and parks, state parks, and other visitor centers. Money spent at the ANHA bookstores has been helping the Refuge provide educational services and materials for more than 20 years. The refuge newspaper Refuge Reflections printed with ANHA funding, serves as an excellent resource for visitors and new staff to learn about the refuge’s recreational opportunities. ANHA also supports environmental education training for local teachers and helps to fund refuge environmental education programs during the fall months when refuge funds are in short supply at the end of the fiscal year. Have you joined us at the Refuge Open House in the fall? If so, you have probably seen our raptor visitors from the Anchorage Bird Treatment and Learning Center (TLC). ANHA funds the raptor visits and also helps the refuge to show our appreciation to the community by provid- Raptor visits during the Refuge’s open house are par- ing some of the food that is prepared and served by the tially funded by a book from the visitor center via the staff. Alaska Natural History Association. Campground Fees and Golden Age Passports: Ten dollars at Hidden Lake per night! Ten dollars for Camping, boating, fishing, hunting, hiking, skiing, a Golden Age passport for Senior Citizens to select school field trips, etc… Public lands offer innumerable campgrounds and other federally-funded facilities? opportunities for all. I believe that no refuge in Alaska What happens to the money that goes into staying at except the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge offers so one of those fancy California-style campgrounds out much for so little. Have you ever wondered what hap- on Skilak Lake Road? pens to the 10 bucks that you pay each night you stay The Kenai Refuge received money to build these at Hidden Lake campground? Or what happens to the beautiful campgrounds, but what about money to $14.95 you pay for a book at the Visitor’s Center? maintain them? Prior to 1999 the Kenai Refuge used Unlike the tax dollars we all pay, the fees col- 70% of the fee money to maintain the campgrounds; lected for refuge services take a refreshingly short the other 30% went into a black hole called “overhead.” path through government red tape. We have three Now the Refuge System is able to use the Fee Demo types of collections on the Kenai Refuge: a bookstore, Program, which is available to other federal agencies campground fee collection, and administrative fees for that provide similar visitor services. This program guide permits. I’d like to take this opportunity to tell returns 100% of collected fees directly to the Kenai

6 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 5 • February 2, 2001

Refuge. This money comes to us as “no-year money,” 1) It decreased the amount of administrative time which means it doesn’t go away at the end of the fis- spent on each permit, thus requiring less money to cal year (September 30); the money carries over for maintain a permit. refuge campground maintenance and improvements 2) Guides who consistently fail to meet the require- in subsequent years. For example, in 1999, we col- ments of the permit or receive a violation now pay four lected $30,328 in campground fees from our two fee times more than the guides who are out there working campgrounds. This money was used for trash pickup, hard to run a quality business. outhouse pumping, campground patrol, campground 3) It rewards guides who diligently submit all the hosting, and maintenance in the summer of 2000. In documentation required to operate on the refuge. 2000, we collected $29,409, which will be added to the 1999 remaining balance for 2001 maintenance. 4) Lastly, it provides incentive for guides to meet Permit Administrative Fees/Client Use Fees: “Ad- the requirements of the permit and the law. Qualify- ministrative fee” sounds much like “overhead” to me, ing for a 5-year permit saves a guide $400 over the life but this money really does have a functional desti- of the permit. nation. When guides apply for permits, they pay a So, drop by the campgrounds on Skilak Lake for a $100.00 administrative fee as well as a fee for each day couple of days or stop by Refuge Headquarters for in- they have a client in the field. These fees come to the formation before taking that hike. It’s yours…bought refuge through the Recreation Fee Program. We get and paid for. 70% of this “no-year” money. It is used to maintain Pamela Ables has worked for the Refuge System guide permit information, hunting/fishing patrol, Law since 1986. She is a IT Specialist and also supervises the Enforcement issues, and maintenance. In years past all administration of refuge funding each year. She lives in guides had to pay $100 a year for their permits. In 1998 Kenai with her husband, Myke, and his daughter, Des- we issued the first 5-year permits charging the same tiny. For more information about the Refuge, visit the administrative fee as the 1-year guides. This change headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 accomplished four things: or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 7 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 6 • February 9, 2001

Critters’ fire survival instincts often better than ours by Doug Newbould

summer. Two elk were standing in the middle of the river while fire consumed the mountain slopes above them. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that awesome scene. But it is indicative of the survival instincts and intelli- gence that animals possess. Mammals such as moose, elk, bear and wolves can move swiftly when necessary, and they use that ability to escape an approaching fire. Smaller animals like badgers, mice and snakes can survive fire underground, in their burrows. Birds fly to safety. Of course, some wildfires are so large and move so swiftly that many animals and even people cannot escape. For- tunately, this doesn’t happen often. Usually, there is time to evacuate an area before a fire gets large enough to entrap us, both people and critters. Photo by John McColgan, Bureau of Land Management, I witnessed two examples of wildlife survivability Alaska Fire Service. Alaskan Type I Incident Manage- at the Cave Gulch Fire near Helena, Montana last sum- ment Team observed elk during a forest fire. mer. There was a little sub-adult black bear in theMag- pie Creek valley, more or less in the middle of 30,000 As a firefighter there is one question I have been acres of fire-scoured forest land. And for several days asked repeatedly over the years, ”What happens to all after the fire roared up the canyon consuming almost the animals during a wildfire?” Well, it’s a good ques- everything in its path, my fellow firefighters and I saw tion, and I don’t think there is one definitive answer. that young bear limping gingerly around the valley Some wildland fires have a drastic effect on wildlife, bottom. Wildlife biologists were called in to capture while other fires have little effect. Sometimes theef- the bear, but they were unsuccessful. One man said he fects are limited to certain species, while other times saw the bear enter an old mine tunnel and the spec- all species are affected in a given area. It depends on ulation around fire camp was that the mine became the fire’s behavior—its size, its intensity and its rateof the bear’s refuge during the “firestorm.” Apparently, spread. It depends upon the types of forest fuels that the little bruin burned the pads of his feet during his are present, upon the terrain and upon the weather. amazing escape through the flames and hot ashes. If The effects of fire on wildlife can be seenondif- you stood in that valley today, you would wonder how ferent scales of time and space. There are short-term anything could have survived such devastation. There effects like displacement, injury and mortality. And is nothing left but naked black trees, crumbling cabin there are long-term effects on populations through foundations and gray ash. the vegetation they eat; moose and hares for example One morning while I walked along Magpie Creek, thrive on fire because they eat the hardwood browse marking burned out snags that might fall on the road, (birch, aspen, and willow) that comes in after a fire. I heard a very distinctive sound directly behind me. Furthermore, fire effects can be limited to small geo- It was something like the sound my mother used to graphic areas like the Echo Lake Fire (1969) or to large make when I got a little rambunctious in church, “Shh- landscapes like the Greater Yellowstone Area (1988). hhhh!”’ I’d only heard that sound once before in my What amazes me are the instincts, abilities, and thirty or so years of walking in the woods, but my in- adaptations that wildlife use to survive wildfires. stincts told me to move Now! The next thing I knew, I Many readers will remember the incredible color pho- was standing on the other side of the creek, facing in tograph from the Bitterroot River in Montana this past the opposite direction. To this day, I don’t remember

8 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 6 • February 9, 2001 how I got from point-A to point-B without getting my place. I stood there, a safe distance away this time, feet wet in the creek. But I think I would have won the and thought about the paradox, “How can life be so gold medal in the standing broad jump that day. strong and yet so fragile on this wonderful planet we After I started breathing again, I went back across live on?” And I thought about the instincts that saved the creek to find the critter that pushed my “launch me from a rattlesnake bite. Perhaps we humans still button.” There, beneath an undercut root wad wasa possess some of that same survivability that critters little three-foot timber rattler, all coiled up and chit- use every day. tering his little cold-blooded heart away. I had just Doug Newbould is the Fire Management Officer at been standing about two feet in front of his shelter the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. For more informa- when he had issued his warning, “Don’t tread on me!” tion about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill To think I had been walking across a seemingly ster- Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at ile landscape, my boots six inches deep in white ash, http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/. with no idea that something could still be alive in that

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 9 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 7 • February 16, 2001

Concern for wilderness caribou by Rick Ernst

The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge is home tofive on rocks, “foliose” leaf-like forms, and “fruticose” or different herds of caribou. The herd most visible in miniature bushy forms. The fruticose type is often summer is the Kenai Lowland herd which roams the used as shrubs for Christmas train displays, and this muskeg areas between the Kenai gas fields and Ke- same type is the most important food for caribou in nai airport. This herd migrates east onto the refuge winter. Caribou can smell lichens beneath the snow to spend the winter in the Moose River flats or the and will paw down to get them, in a process called Funny River area. The Kenai Mountain herd ranges “cratering.” in the mountains north of the Sterling Highway and Lichens are slow growing and are vulnerable to west of the Seward Highway. These animals may also overgrazing and trampling. The Killey River herd con- be seen by hikers, bikers, or snowmachiners. But the fines itself to a very limited range in the high alpine at other three herds—Twin Lakes, Killey River, and Fox the headwaters of the Killey and Funny Rivers. As the River herds—roam wilderness areas in the middle Ke- population grows, the animals tend to trample in sum- nai Mountains between Skilak Lake and the Fox River mer the very plant life they need during the winter. which enters Kachemak Bay. These caribou are seen Most caribou herds have separate summer and winter only by pilots who fly overhead or those hardy types ranges; unfortunately, the Killey River caribou spend that venture into the backcountry on horseback or the entire year on the same range. There is some evi- foot. dence that the Killey River herd is expanding its range, Many small caribou herds across Alaska are de- which would be good news. This past May I found sev- clining in numbers, such as the Mentasta, Chisana, eral small groups and individual caribou giving birth Beaver Mountain, and Southern Alaska Peninsula on nunataks (isolated peaks projecting through the herds. On the contrary, the Killey River herd is in- Harding Icefield). I observed some cows walking out creasing, to the point that biologists and game man- on the Icefield itself several miles from “land.” Itis agers are concerned that the caribou are damaging possible that some of these roaming animals may have their habitat. Most ungulate species are limited by ventured into new areas for the summer. It is also the their winter habitat, i.e. their population size is con- first time caribou have been located in the Kenai Fjords trolled by the amount of winter food available. If there National Park, which shares the Harding Icefield with is less food, or less nutritious food, the numbers will the Refuge. decline, as juveniles and weaker animals die off. For This past November, biologists with Alaska De- caribou, the main winter food is lichen. I have had the partment of Fish and Game (ADF&G) counted over 600 opportunity to hike around the high country the past animals in the Killey River herd. This is the largest several summers and hunting seasons. I am concerned number ever counted, and it is remarkable consider- about the damaged lichen beds, especially when I coming that presumably all of these are descendents of the pare the range to areas south of the Fox River where original 60 or so animals we airlifted into the moun- caribou are absent. Where there are no caribou, the tains in 1987-88. lichens are bushy, thick, and more numerous; they are We want to keep the Killey River herd under con- so abundant that I hate to walk on them. trol so they don’t destroy the habitat and cause a pop- Lichens are composed of two separate organisms, ulation crash. Predation from wolves, bears, wolver- an alga and a fungus. The alga has chlorophyll to man- ine, and eagles helps to remove some animals from the ufacture food, and the fungus is made up of spongy herd, but apparently not enough are taken to stabilize threads that support the alga and protect it from dry- the numbers. Human predation in the form of hunting ing out. Lichens are most suitable for northern cli- is also needed, and we hope that with sufficient natu- mates and are able to produce food in low tempera- ral predation and hunting, the herd can be maintained ture and low light conditions. Lichens are divided into at a sustainable level. With luck we can keep it from three groups or shapes: “crustose” which form a crust following the all too common declining path of other

10 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 7 • February 16, 2001 small caribou herds in Alaska. movements, and we will be undertaking some surveys The Refuge has joined with ADF&G and the U.S. of lichen range condition this summer. From these Forest Service in a Cooperative Management Plan for data we hope to make some estimate of how many the Peninsula’s caribou herds. The plan goals are to caribou the limited range can sustain before the pop- maintain caribou populations at optimum levels in ulation would crash, so that hunting quotas can be set conjunction with habitat protection, to provide the to keep the population below this maximum level. opportunity for herds to expand into new areas, to Rick Ernst is a Wildlife Biologist/Pilot at the Kenai provide for hunting and non-consumptive recreational National Wildlife Refuge. For more information about use, and to provide for scientific research. the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in To meet these goals we currently have thirteen Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at http://www. radiocollars to monitor caribou winter and summer fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 11 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 8 • February 23, 2001

Winter use of Kenai National Wildlife Refuge cabins by Rick Johnston

Structures of relatively recent origin often have finished wood (plywood) or plank construction and are probably trespass structures, whereas historical structures usually have log construction. Cabin users should remember that historical cabins and any artifacts within or around them are legally protected from disturbance and removal. Refuge regulations and other federal laws are designed to preserve historical information and objects, and forbid any sou- venir collecting. There are also cabins on private inholdings within the Refuge, such as along the northeast shore of Tus- tumena Lake, which are privately owned and are not generally open to the public. The cabin at Caribou Island One of the most accessible public-use cabins is the Finger Lakes cabin, which can be reached by hiking, This is a good time of year to visit one of the public- skiing or snowmachining the Finger Lakes Road. The use cabins on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. The Finger Lakes Road is closed to public vehicular traffic, longer hours of daylight and moderate temperatures but can be used as a trail. The cabin can sleep four in of late February and March make a cabin trip a great a pinch, and is less than two miles west of Swanson family outing. Refuge cabins are open to the public River Road. A Refuge gate blocks the road and serves on a first come, first serve basis. There are no charges as a trailhead. The cabin can also be reached byski or reservations; maximum stay is seven days. Most of plane, and the area has average to good ice fishing. the cabins have saws to cut firewood and if you’re for- The cabin is located near a small island of large trees tunate, the previous user will have left enough stove within the 1969 Burn, where one often sees moose, wood to get you started. lynx, coyote, hare and other wildlife (or at least their Although these cabins receive some maintenance tracks). The last time I was there overnight, Iheard from Refuge staff, users, and volunteers, this care is both coyote and wolves calling. The Finger Lakes infrequent and low key. Users should plan to bring all cabin was originally built by the Refuge for a scien- necessary supplies, including a back-up tent, in case tist doing grouse research. It is of log construction and the cabin is in use by another party. Eight of the nine looks and feels like an Alaskan cabin. I should mention public-use cabins have some type of stove, but the that recent vegetation clearing and other activities as- stove and chimney should be carefully inspected be- sociated with the construction of a natural gas pipeline fore lighting any fires, and monitored closely during between Wolf Lake and Beaver Creek may put some operation. truck traffic and noise on the otherwise sleepy Finger The number of public-use cabins is considerably Lakes Road. Cabin users parking at the Finger Lakes less than the number of cabins present on the Refuge. gate should not block the road at the trailhead. There are other structures, historical in character or Caribou Island cabin on Tustumena Lake is an- otherwise, that hikers, skiers, snowmachiners, or oth- other very nice destination in late winter. It normally ers may come across while traveling on the Refuge. A has good ski and snowmachine access, but this year’s 1984 cabin inventory documented more than 30 exist- moderate winter has left ice conditions on the west end ing cabins and several others that were only partially of Tustumena Lake too thin for safe travel, other than standing. There are probably still a few old historical by water skis. The cabin can still be safely reached by structures out there that have not yet been discovered. skirting the south shore of the Kasilof River and Tustu-

12 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 8 • February 23, 2001 mena Lake. The log walls, roof and floor of this cabin lak Lake and causes either open water or thin ice for are in fair to good condition and it can sleep four. The a half mile from the mouth. Travelers must skirt the wood supply is relatively poor, and searching for stove open area toward the main lake to find safe ice. Cau- wood is one of the pastimes to expect at this otherwise tion is essential, and I recommend checking with the perfect location. Refuge before making this trip. Skilak Lake is deep Two favorites for those with ski-equipped aircraft and cold. are the Vogel Lake and Trapper Joe Lake cabins. Both The Doroshin Bay cabin can also be accessed by are approximately a 30-minute flight from the Kenai- boat in the late winter when Skilak Lake is ice-free. Soldotna area, and several local air taxis with skis can During a moderate winter such as this one, Skilak will get you there and back safely. The Kiwanis Club of remain ice-free for most of the winter, but the Up- Anchorage and other volunteers maintain these two per and Lower Skilak boat ramps are terribly slick and cabins for public use. their use is dicey at best. The Trapper Joe cabin looks and feels more likea Other public-use cabins include Big Indian, Lake historical Alaskan cabin because of its earlier period of Emma, and Pipe Creek. Information of their location, construction and low-to-the-ground style. It is smaller condition and access options is available at Refuge in size and is easier to heat by stove, and sleeps three headquarters. to four. The Vogel Lake cabin sleeps four to six. Both Refuge cabins can give visitors a chance to expe- lakes have ice fishing and are great places to search for rience the Refuge during winter months when tent winter wildlife sign. Some snowmobilers have also re- camping seems a little intimidating. The Refuge has cently discovered these cabins. a rich and interesting human history, and visiting the The other Refuge cabins have their own unique lo- cabins can be a great taste of Kenai Peninsula history. cations and challenges. The Doroshin Bay cabin is lo- Rick Johnston is a Ranger/ Pilot for the Kenai Na- cated in Doroshin Bay on the far northeast side of Ski- tional Wildlife Refuge. For more information on Refuge lak Lake and is reached via Skilak Lake or by Hidden public-use cabins call Refuge Headquarters at 262-7021. Creek Trail in combination with Skilak Lake. When For more information about the Refuge, visit the head- the ice is thick it is easily accessible. Trouble is, even quarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or in a cold winter, the upper Kenai River dumps into Ski- see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 13 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 9 • March 2, 2001

Unsolved mystery: deformed-bill black-capped chickadees by Ted Bailey

larly affected? We don’t know why black-capped chickadees are the most affected birds. Their cousins—boreal chickadees—rarely have bill deformities, and other species such as red-breasted nuthatches are seldom affected. Nevertheless, there are some interesting patterns that may or may not be relevant. Black-capped chickadees are year-round residents; they don’t migrate to spend winters in, say, California or Central America. This suggests that the deformity cause isre- stricted to Alaska, specifically, so far as we know, to Southcentral Alaska. A black-capped chickadee with a deformed maxilla Why are only black-capped and not boreal chick- and mandible. Photo by USGS http://alaska.usgs.gov/ adees affected? Boreal chickadees prefer spruce science/biology/landbirds/beak_deformity/index.html. forests, while black-capped chickadees utilize more diverse habitats including deciduous forest. Could the Most of us like to believe that in “pristine” Alaska deformity cause somehow be associated with their dif- we are immune from the ecological problems of the ferent habitats? “Lower 48.” There is increasing evidence, however, we Black-capped chickadees store food, primarily are not exempt from such problems, as the following seeds, in trees under bark, in crevices between limbs, strange puzzle will illustrate. and in other “secret” places for later retrieval. This In the last several years, Southcentral Alaska has storage includes food from birdfeeders, such as sun- seen a dramatic increase of black-capped chickadees flower seeds and suet. Chickadees typically remove with deformed bills. Recently such birds have been the shell from sunflower seeds before caching them. seen in the Strawberry Road and Poppy Lane areas. At peak activity, a chickadee will store hundreds to Biologists from the Alaska Biological Science Cen- thousands of food items per day. In Norway, a related ter in Anchorage have been collecting these reports species stores 50,000 to 80,000 spruce seeds each au- and are trying to discover the cause of the deformi- tumn. Could this food-caching behavior somehow be ties. Kenai Refuge biological technicians Todd Eskelin related to the deformed bills? With the recent spruce and Stephanie Rickabaugh are capturing, leg-banding, bark beetle outbreak in Southcentral Alaska and the and collecting blood samples from black-capped chick- spraying of trees in certain areas for protection against adees on and near the refuge. the beetle, one might suspect that chemical spray- The chickadee bill deformities range from barely ing could be a potential factor. But again, there is detectable to grotesque. Sometimes the top bill curves no “smoking gun” in the form of solid evidence for in a long U-shaped arc back towards the head. Such a chemical cause; it is just another hypothesis to be birds are unable to pick up food in a normal fash- evaluated. ion and must twist their head sideways to pick up Peninsula Clarion readers can help us address this food with the side of the bill. Normal birds care- major “unsolved mystery.” If you observe a deformed- fully preen their feathers, but deformed-bill birds often bill chickadee or any other species, please report it to look ragged and unkempt because they can’t properly the refuge at 262-7021, and report it to Colleen Handel groom themselves. Usually, deformed-billed birds are at [email protected] of the Alaska Biological Sci- observed at bird-feeders. Could bird-feeders or com- ence Center in Anchorage. A small number of chick- mercial bird food be responsible for the deformities? adees were banded near Soldotna last week. Normal But, if so, why are few other bird-feeder species simi- chickadees have an aluminum band on their foot. Po-

14 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 9 • March 2, 2001 tential deformed-bill chickadees have a color band. If been responsible for the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge’s you see a leg-banded chickadee (of either type), please biological programs for over 20 years. He and his staff report it to us at 262-7021. This will show how far lo- monitor and conduct studies of ecological conditions and cal chickadees travel. A leg-band number would also wildlife on the refuge. Excellent photos of chickadees be helpful, but the numbers are small and difficult to with deformed bills can be seen at http://alaska.usgs.gov/ read unless the bird is close by or you have a pair of science/biology/landbirds/beak_deformity/ For more in- binoculars or a spotting scope. We will keep Clarion formation about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski readers informed as this story unfolds. Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at Ted Bailey is a supervisory wildlife biologist and has http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 15 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 10 • March 9, 2001

Little guys of the plant world area hidden treat by Ed Burg

One of the secret joys of nature study is the raw the little guys is mostly done under the microscope. appreciation of the myriad forms of living creatures. Actually, I use two microscopes: first a 10-20 power At times this appreciation is like listening to music— schoolroom dissecting scope, and then a 40-400 power a physical or sensory experience that delights the eye laboratory scope for looking at the cells of moss leaves as music delights the ear. For me a visit to a botani- and for counting lichen spores. cal garden or the lichen-carpeted alpine is much akin Visiting the microscopic world is like going to an- to listening to a symphony orchestra, being awash in other country with an entirely new set of plants—a the variety of sounds and their endless combinations. new flora. There are probably many more species of When I put an insect or a flower under the micro- mosses and lichens in Alaska than there are species scope, it’s like putting on a CD of music. Sometimes of the large (flowering) plants. Exact numbers mosses the melody is familiar and I recognize an old friend, and lichens are hard to pin down, and hitherto unre- but often I am learning a new tune, which can be both ported species are being found every year in Alaska, exhilarating and frustrating, like a student at the pi- as are brand new undescribed species. ano bench. Were I a trained musician, I would hear Many of the little plants look very similar and are much more in music than I do. A trained ear can name tricky to identify. For mosses it is usually necessary the notes, recognize the chord progressions, and re- to gently pull off some leaves with a fine tweezers and peat complex rhythms. Musically, I am like the casual examine them under a microscope. The leaf cells can hiker in the woods who sees only trees, but not white be long and skinny, or short and fat. Some cells have spruce or black spruce, not aspen or birch, or who sees one or more pimples; some have thick walls, thin walls only green ground, but not fire moss, feather moss, or or pitted walls. For lichens it necessary to use simple liverworts. chemical tests. A drop of bleach may turn a lichen red With nature study, more than music, it is neces- or pink; a drop of sodium hydroxide may turn it yel- sary to know the names of things and the names of low, blood red, or purple. Ultraviolet light in a dark their parts. Most of us who lack a photographic mem- room may display a drab brown lichen as bright icy ory simply can’t accurately remember something if we blue-white. These quick tests reveal the chemical dif- don’t have a name for it. Furthermore, it is hard to tell ferences between visually similar species, much the the difference between two similar things if we don’t way our taste buds distinguish wines that look identi- know the names of their parts and characteristics. Be- cal but have interesting chemically differences. ginning botanists usually find plant vocabulary intim- It is necessary to have good books when study- idating, but these technical words are used in the iden- ing plants, be they large or small. Eric Hulten’s Flora tification keys and must be patiently mastered, likea of Alaska and Neighboring Territories (1968) is still foreign language, if one is to fully appreciate the great the bible for the large plants. For the little plants variety of plant life. of our area the best general book is Vitt, Marsh and Some twenty years ago I set myself the goal of Bovey’s Mosses, Lichens and Ferns of Northwest North learning the names of all the plants on the Kenai America (1988), which has excellent color photos and Peninsula. I soon realized that I had to collect each good keys. Readers with a green thumb will ap- plant in order to learn it. From Boyd Shaffer’s botany preciate George Schenk’s Moss Gardening, Including class at the Kenai Peninsula College, I learned to Lichens, Liverworts, and Other Miniatures’ (1997), also mount plants on 5 x 8” index cards with clear contact with many striking color photos. The two best lichen paper. I now have more than 600 of these cards, and books for our area can be downloaded free from the add more every summer. Canadian Forestry site at http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/ In the last several years I have turned to studying hfd/pubs/docs/srs/srs08.htm and srs09.htm. (See srs01 the mosses and lichens—the little guys that most peo- to srs04 for flowering plant manuals.) The website ple barely see and couldn’t begin to name. Studying of the American Bryological and Lichenological Soci-

16 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 10 • March 9, 2001 ety is another rich source: http://www.unomaha.edu/ the evening with the little guys of the plant world. ~abls/ Ed Berg has been the ecologist at the Kenai Na- I will be giving a talk on mosses and lichens at 7pm tional Wildlife Refuge since 1993. For more informa- next Tuesday (March 13) at River City Books (near the tion about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill Soldotna Y). I’ll bring my plant collections, and a pile Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at of good plant books for show-and-tell, and we’ll spend http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 17 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 11 • March 16, 2001

Kenai to host Alaska Regional FireWise Workshop, April 25-27 by Doug Newbould

We Alaskans have been quite fortunate. Despite from the devastating effects of wildfire. It is a process all of the major wildfires this state has experienced that city planners and real estate developers can use to in the past century, only one destroyed homes to the design a fire-safe community. It’s a way that villages magnitude we saw in New Mexico and Montana last can retrofit their structures and treat the surrounding year. In 1996 the Miller’s Reach Fire destroyed 454 vegetation to survive those massive black spruce fires homes west of Wasilla. Amazingly, no humans lost in the Interior. their lives during the chaos of that incident. We may This is where you come in. The Alaska Wildland not be so lucky next time. As a member of the wildland Fire Coordinating Group has partnered with the Kenai fire community in Alaska, I have heard it said many Peninsula Borough, to host the Alaska Regional Fire- times, “It’s not a question of—if a major wildfire will Wise Communities Workshop in Kenai on April 25-27, devastate a community somewhere in the state, it’s a 2001. This sixteen-hour workshop is designed to bring question of—when.” homeowners, planners, architects, builders, insurance As the population of Alaska grows and devel- professionals, financial institutions and fire managers opment expands, more and more people are build- together to learn the process, to interact with each ing their homes and businesses out in the wildlands, other and to build people networks. We hope to have where they can experience the natural tranquility, the one hundred Alaskans participate in the workshop, beauty and the wildness of this great land we live in. which will be held at the Pacific Rim Institute of Safety It’s just the American way. It happened in Califor- and Management in Kenai. nia, it has happened in the Rockies and it’s happening To register call Sharon Roesch at (907) 260-4222. here. This condition of the landscape—where develop- The cost of the workshop is $100, which includes ment occurs in traditionally natural areas, is known as meals. If you need lodging, the total cost of the work- the Wildland/Urban Interface or WUI. shop with room and board is $275. There are lim- Nationally, the occurrence of wildfire in the WUI ited scholarships available. The workshop is filling is increasing, and many homes are lost each year. But up quickly. Only about fifty slots remain. There are there is hope. We have seen many homes left stand- plenty of “idealistic” Alaskan fire professionals plan- ing, basically undamaged after the passage of a wild- ning to attend. We need more homeowners, especially fire. These survivors generally possess some common those who would be willing to share FireWise with characteristics: defensible or survivable space, fire re- their neighbors. We also need more builders, devel- sistant building materials and design, a reliable water opers, planners, insurance representatives, financial supply and adequate road access. Fire prevention and institution professionals, business owners, landscape mitigation efforts around the country are beginning to companies and environmental professionals to make make a difference. That is what the FireWise Commu- the workshop the best it can be. Will you join us? nity Action Program is all about. Doug Newbould is the Fire Management Officer at FireWise is a new paradigm, a new standard, a new the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. For more informa- way to approach development in the wildland/urban tion about the Refuge, fire management or FireWise, visit interface. It is a way that homeowners and business the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262- owners can take responsibility for their own lives and 7021 or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/ property, a way they can survive and quickly recover kenai/.

18 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 12 • March 23, 2001

Kenai Peninsula has its ups and downs by Ed Berg

The Kenai Peninsula is a dynamic landscape inthe tos to pick out just this kind of clue to a potential oil- quite literal sense of moving up and down. Like the bearing structure.) stock market, the Peninsula is constantly on the move, On a timescale of hundreds of years the Kenai but whether you say it’s going up or down depends Peninsula has suffered a number of downward jerks, on your time scale of reference. The stock market has like singular bad days on the stock market. The most generally risen since 1929, but it has had down peri- recent bad day was March 27, 1964 with the Great ods, such as the last twelve months. But even within Alaska Earthquake. In a matter of seconds the Ke- the down periods the stock market has rising days and nai Lowland dropped as much as two feet. Areas months, all of which makes stock market analysts per- with thick sand and gravel deposits, such as Cook In- petually argue about whether the market is really go- let beaches, experienced additional compaction (like ing up or down. shaken sand in a coffee can) which further lowered On the geologic time scale, the steep sea cliffs on the ground surface. The tip of the Homer Spit dropped the south side of Kachemak Bay and the southern tip about five feet, with two feet due to tectonic lowering of the Kenai Peninsula indicate that the coast has gen- of the bedrock and three feet due to compaction of the erally risen over the last 2-3 million years. This rise 300 feet of sand and gravel underlying the Spit. is typical of the west coast of North America; it con- Like a recovering stock market, the Kenai Penin- trasts with the generally subsiding east coast with its sula has been rising since 1964, but some areas are long shore bars, spits, and sand-clogged embayments, rising faster than others are. The area north of Ski- such as one sees along the coast of the Carolinas and lak Lake, for example, is the fastest spot, having risen Georgia. On a much shorter time scale, say, the 16,000 about 90 centimeters (three feet) since 1964, accord- years since the last glacial maximum, the mouth of the ing to benchmarks along the Sterling Highway. The Kenai River appears to have risen at least 440 feet and head of Kachemak Bay is the second fastest spot, with possibly much more. Most of this uplift is elastic re- a 60-centimeter (two-foot) rise in this time period. bound from the unloading of the glacial icesheet; the It appears that the Kenai Peninsula has experi- weight of the ice depresses the crust of the Earth, and enced six to nine of these dive and rebounds in the the crust rebounds when an icesheet melts. An addi- last 5000 years, due to slippage along the underlying tional component of uplift could be added by the sub- subduction zone. Rod Combellick with the Alaska Di- ducting Pacific tectonic plate, which is being pulled vision of Geological and Geophysical Surveys studied under the Kenai Peninsula and generates many of our ancient peat layers in a well core in Portage Flats in earthquakes. Turnagain Arm and at other sites around Cook Inlet. Even within a generally rising land surface, there He noticed that after the 1964 subsidence, mud and can be “fast spots.” The Swanson River oilfield for ex- sand were deposited on top of the marsh vegetation ample lies within a very distinct oxbow of the Swanson around Turnagain Arm, and that a new marsh began River. When you fly over the main oilfield, you cansee to grow on this recent layer of tidal sediments. He rea- a long shallow lake and wetland (Hungry Lake) across soned that in time the new marsh vegetation would the neck of the oxbow on the northwest side. This is form a peat layer, which could be buried in a future the original river channel, before the river bulged out subsidence event. In the well core he observed peri- to the southeast. The layered bedrock has bowed up- odic thin peat layers sandwiched between thick layers ward (in an “anticline,” as the geologists say) under the of tidal mud and sand. Using radiocarbon dating of the oilfield to form a domed trap for the oil. This upward peat layers, he found an average interval of 600-800 bowing has continued since the icesheet retreated and years between peat layers, and inferred that this must has forced the river to cut a new channel around the represent the timing of very large earthquakes (greater southeast side of the uplift. (There are geologists who than magnitude eight) in southern Alaska. (Unfortu- are paid big bucks to sit all day looking at aerial pho- nately, the peat layers were not evenly spaced; some

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 19 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 12 • March 23, 2001 occurred within a few decades of each other. One surface itself suddenly dropped, as it did dramatically thus can’t conclude that the next 1964-size earthquake in 1964. won’t happen for 600-800 years, so don’t cancel your It is hard to imagine a better geological laboratory earthquake insurance!) than the Kenai Peninsula. I have been privileged to In Combellick’s well the peat layers get older as teach my “Geology of Kachemak Bay” course for many you go deeper in the well. Does this mean that the years at the Kenai Peninsula College in Homer, and land has been going down, at least for the 5000 years more recently in Soldotna. This is a 1-credit class with recorded in the well? No, it does not, because sea level five evening classes and two Saturday field trips to has risen steadily by 120 meters (390 feet) since the Kachemak Bay. The class starts next Tuesday (March last glacial maximum 16,000 years ago. If there hadn’t 27) at the Soldotna campus and Friday (March 30) at been any earthquake-generated subsidence events, the the Homer campus. Call the College for registration peat would have grown thicker and thicker as sea level information (262-0300 or 235-7743). rose. Each mud- and sand-covered peat layer indicates a local “rise” of the sea level and flooding of the Ed Berg has been the ecologist at the Kenai Na- marshes. But sea level doesn’t rise or fall locally (ex- tional Wildlife Refuge since 1993. For more informa- cept for the tide), because the oceans of the world rise tion about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill and fall together. So, a local flooding of the marshes Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at and burial of the vegetation must mean that the land http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

20 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 13 • March 30, 2001

Dogs on the Wildlife Refuge by Candace Ward

chance to see wildlife. Refuge Campgrounds—Dogs are required to be on a leash no longer than nine ft. in all refuge campgrounds. Campgrounds are high-density use areas. Noisy, uncontrolled dogs can cause safety problems and serious strife between campers. Leashed dogs make good neighbors in these busy places and give the smaller wildlife like squirrels and hares the space they need to live. Areas Open to Dogs with their Owners—The rest of the refuge is open to dogs, but they are required to be under the control of their owners. It’s important to assess your dog’s training when choosing the method of control that works best in an outdoor setting. Many hikers find that using a six-ft. leash and harness combination works well for dogs accompany- ing them. Others suggest if you have a well-trained dog that responds consistently to voice command, the dog should stay by your side to avoid surprising bears, A canine companion on a hike up Bear Mountain people, horses, porcupines, and other wildlife on the trail. To dog or not to dog, that is the question. Whether it is nobler to leave “Spot” home or take him on an Uncontrolled dogs are easily injured by porcupines outing—that is a perpetual quandary that all dog own- or moose. A dog encountering a bear will often aggra- ers face. vate it and even attract the bear back to its master. It When heading out for adventures on Kenai Na- goes without saying that dogs should not be allowed to tional Wildlife Refuge, we need to remember that the chase, disturb, or injure wildlife; moose-chasing dogs refuge was established to conserve wildlife and the are best left at home or else kept on a stout leash. habitat it needs to survive. I often hear dog lovers say, Here are some tips that make your dog happier on “but dogs are people too!” Well, not exactly, though any outing. Be sure to give your dog opportunities to your dog is an animal, it is as a domestic one and is drink water during increased physical activity. It may therefore a guest visiting the Refuge. Like all guests be difficult to find water in upland areas (for bothdogs there is acceptable behavior when visiting someone and humans) during dry periods in the summer, so you else’s home (in this case the home of wild animals). may need to carry extra water. Here are some helpful guidelines for outdoor expe- Dogs with high metabolisms and those out on cold riences with your dog on Kenai National Wildlife days often need to be fed more frequently than usual, Refuge. so bring appropriate amounts of food for them. Areas Closed to Dogs—The Keen Eye Nature Think about your dog’s first aid as well asyour Trail and Cross-Country Ski Trails at the Headquar- own. A clean sock in your first aid kit makes a great ters/Visitor Center are closed to dogs. One of the ma- bandage to hold a dressing in place on a dog’s cut jor purposes of these trails is to promote wildlife obser- footpad. Since many of us humans care for our dogs vation while hiking, skiing, and snowshoeing. These like they were our kids, remember to think about haz- trails experience periods of heavy usage, and the no- ards that can hurt our dogs: Devil’s club spines, cow dogs policy reduces conflicts and safety problems be- parsnip sap (on the nose), and sharp talus rock all pose tween dogs and people, and gives trail users a better hazards for dogs as well as people.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 21 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 13 • March 30, 2001

In the final analysis, when planning an outing that the trail? If so, go out and enjoy your adventures includes your dog, think about whether what you have on the almost two million acres of the Kenai National in mind really fits your dog’s personality and train- Wildlife Refuge open to you. Just remember to follow ing. Is your dog happy around boats and water? If the Refuge’s dog policies and regulations, and please not, a trip on Skilak Lake may not be a good experi- put wildlife first! ence. Does your dog bark or whimper for long periods Candace Ward has worked as park ranger at the Ke- when other dogs are close by? Then a camping trip to nai National Wildlife Refuge for over 15 years specializ- a busy campground may be misery for both of you, as ing in refuge information and education programs. She well as other campers. Does your dog tend to run off enjoys outdoor adventures with her husband Walter and and get lost? This can be a real heartbreak on any trip, chocolate Lab, Taiga. For more information about the especially if the dog can’t be found or gets caught in a Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Sol- trap. dotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at http://www. On the flip side, does your dog love to hike, fol- fws.gov/refuge/kenai/. lowing your instructions and staying close by you on

22 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 14 • April 6, 2001

International Conference of Fire Service Women by Alicia Duzinski

I recently had the pleasure of attending the In- overseas and learned about fire programs in Indone- ternational Conference of Fire Service Women in At- sia and Russia. Other seminars discussed recruitment, lanta, Georgia hosted by Women in the Fire Service physical fitness, leadership and supervisory roles, giv- (WFS). WFS started back in 1982 as an organization of ing constructive feedback, creative confrontation and 200 women firefighters scattered throughout the na- mentoring. There was also a full day recruitment tion. Since those early days WFS has grown almost fair where wildland and structural firefighters demon- 600 percent, with over 100 women firefighters joining strated to possible recruits how they shine in their dif- annually, as well as supportive male firefighters, fire ferent fire environments. departments, college fire science programs and other I attended a forum for wildland firefighters andit institutions contributing to overall membership. was such a rewarding experience to be in a room full WFS produces two newsletters and provides re- of female firefighters. Usually there are just a few ofus sources on recruitment, physical abilities testing, sex- in fire camp and it is so rare to have so many womenin ual harassment and discrimination, and other issues one place. We learned that no matter where we come important to fire departments and wildland fire agen- from we all have similar concerns, issues and a com- cies. They also provide advocacy for women fire fight- mon love for our jobs. ers on a national level. For me the most powerful session was about in- The biennial conferences are educationally valu- ternalized sexism—basically how as women we are able and lots of fun. The first afternoon we were taught to behave a certain way from the time we are treated to tour of the Martin Luther King National His- little girls. The class leader asked some very pointed toric District and a special talk from a minister who questions about how we thought of ourselves and marched and preached along side Reverend King dur- interacted with others and then demonstrated how ing the civil rights movement. We also toured the first this is all learned behavior and that boys are actu- fire department in Atlanta and got a historic perspec- ally taught to be different than girls. The leader also tive on fire history in the city. showed how these self-actualizing stereotypes can be During the opening ceremonies, we were treated quite harmful both personally and professionally in a to a full firefighter parade with a bagpipe band and male-dominated work environment. The saddest thing flags for each country represented. Firefighters trav- about this seminar was when the leader asked who in eled from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, the the class had ever been sexually harassed, assaulted or Netherlands, Germany, Canada, and from all over the discriminated against at work, and almost every sin- U.S. It was fascinating to talk to people from other gle person in the class raised their hands. I believe countries and to see what techniques and strategies that as women firefighters we have made great strides they used to fight fire. to progress in gaining the respect of our male coun- Teresa Edwards, five-time Olympic basketball terparts. However, if in a room of 40 women almost champion, was the keynote speaker. She related everyone had experienced these problems, then we how firefighting required exceptional teamwork and still have room for improvement. The leader was quite strength of character, very similar to playing world- helpful in giving us the tools to deal with future prob- class basketball. She also said that in any situation lems in constructive ways. The most important thing you are only as strong as your weakest link and that to remember is that no matter what, male or female, by working together and mentoring we work to max- we are firefighters who need to work together to sur- imize our strengths. vive in this potentially dangerous career. Once the conference got underway we chose from Overall the WFS Conference provided an excellent multiple seminars with a wide variety of topics im- opportunity to network, build friendships and learn portant to both wildland and structural fire fighting. about how other agencies and fire departments deal I attended sessions about firefighting opportunities with the issues facing firefighters in the new millen-

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 23 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 14 • April 6, 2001 nium. Montana. For more information about the Refuge, visit Alicia Duzinski is a Fire Program Technician at the the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262- Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. She spent most of last 7021 or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/ summer working on wildland fires in New Mexico and kenai/.

24 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 15 • April 13, 2001

Proof of woolly mammoth presence on refuge land lacking by Jim Hall

Managing any national wildlife refuge has its ups now, will my co-workers call me “Mammoth Hall” be- and downs, as does managing any land (even your cause of these “fables?” Or, will someone come for- own two acres). Sometimes, everything you want to ward with a real story of a mammoth? accomplish goes exactly as planned, but sometimes it If someone were to come forward with a verified does not. report of a mammoth on the Kenai refuge, then what Occasionally, weird things happen that disrupt would happen? Well, first of all, the appropriate mu- your normal rhythm, and then excitement is added to seums would be notified, so that qualified personnel your life! Imagine finding the large bones of an ex- could be brought forward to professionally evaluate tinct animal on your property. What would you do? and excavate the skeleton. Then it would be properly Who would you ask? Can you get into trouble if you preserved and displayed for the benefit of all Alaskans dig them up? (If it’s on the Kenai National Wildlife and other Americans, not just for one private collector. Refuge, then yes, you can definitely get into trouble. The value of a find of this nature to science wouldbe Removal of articles of this nature would be punishable tremendous, for mammoths (if found here) could even under 16 USC, 50 CFR.) Would you be destroying some- be a separate sub-species from those found in other thing if you did dig it up? Is this something “bigger” parts of the world. than anything ever discovered here before? What if These creatures once roamed the northern half those bones were a woolly mammoth? of the Earth, including Alaska, grazing the tundra in I moved to the Kenai Peninsula in August of last large herds during the Pleistocene ice age. Sometime year. Since that time, I have heard at least three times around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, something hap- of mammoth parts being seen or found here on the pened to erase them from the face of the earth. There peninsula. The problem with this information is that are many different ideas on how this occurred, includ- there has never been a documented find of a mammoth ing one that puts human hunters at fault. skeleton on the Kenai. This is evidenced by skeletons of mammoths with Teeth can be carried from point A to point B. Tusks stone points embedded in the ribs. I doubt those can be moved the same way. Until a mammoth is ex- points got there by accident. In fact, I would bet that cavated by a “card-carrying” paleontologist, there will our forefathers harvested these animals for food. We never be any mammoths on the Kenai. That is the know that mammoths were abundant up in the Inte- truth of science. If you doubt my word, then fly to rior, along with bison, horses, and saber-tooth tigers, Miami, visit the store “Art by God,” buy a mammoth because their bones are often washed out by hydraulic tusk, carry it back to the Kenai, bury it in your back gold mining operations. Indeed, frozen mammoth car- yard, dig it up in front of friends, and say you found casses, complete with tissue, skin and hair have been it here. Wow! Were mammoths really here? We don’t found in many places in Siberia. know. Did these animals ever wander down through the I am a wildlife manager by training, and I have Chugach Mountains (which were probably covered by managed seven national wildlife refuges in four states glaciers at that time) and onto the Kenai Peninsula? over the last 12 years. I am not a paleontologist. I am According to the Pratt Museum in Homer, single mam- not an expert on things such as extinct woolly mammoth teeth have been found on two occasions. One moths, but folks seem to think I DO know about these tooth was found in a glacial deposit near Homer, and things because they keep telling me about them. I the other was found loose on the beach of the Homer overhear conversations at dinner of skeletons being Spit. seen in ravines, tusks on display in front of the bank, This indicates that mammoths were found here, or folks in planes seeing tusks, and skeletons washed out at least parts of them were carried here during the past. to view by the ocean. I’m sure that even the early human inhabitants of the What am I to think of these things? Years from Kenai would have found a mammoth tooth “cool,” and

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 25 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 15 • April 13, 2001 could have possibly carried them here as a keepsake. National Wildlife Refuge. One of his hobbies is flint- Until someone comes forward and says “There’s one!”, knapping to make arrowheads and other stone tools. For then it is just possible that folks are seeing moose more information about the Refuge, visit the headquar- skeletons, not the bones and tusks of a woolly mam- ters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the moth. website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/. Jim Hall is the deputy refuge manager of the Kenai

26 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 16 • April 20, 2001

Mysterious ‘black-ring condition’ on birches confounds biologists by Ed Berg

shows a black inverted V-pattern around a limb, but these scars were distinctly horizontal and quite different, once you developed an eye for them. When the scars go all the way around the stem, the stem is effectively girdled and dies above the scar. In- deed, we found a number of dead and broken off tree tops about 1 inch in diameter. On larger stems the scar often doesn’t go all the way around, and the tree continues to grow, forming the black scar tissue that will ultimately seal off the wound. Most scars are on trees less than 3 inches in diameter. At first we thought this scarring might be dueto a fungus, so we sent samples to the Forest Products laboratory in Madison, Wis. They cultured pieces of the bark and scar tissue but didn’t find any fungi that don’t normally grow on trees. We consulted several insect specialists and plant pathologists, but they had never seen anything like this. We next investigated the idea that sapsuckers might be responsible. Both red-breasted and yellow- bellied sapsuckers, for example, often drill distinctive horizontal rows of holes in trees. Various ornitholo- gists were consulted, but no one had seen this particular pattern of foraging, in sapsuckers or any other kind The black-ring condition pictured on a few birches. of bird. A visiting Russian grouse expert, Alexander An- We don’t have any Loch Ness monsters or abom- dreev from Magadan, however, pointed out that the inable snowmen on the Kenai National Wildlife groove in the inner bark was just the width of the two Refuge, but we do have one perennial enigma: the front teeth (incisors) of a flying squirrel. He suggested “black-ring condition” on birch trees. This is the time that flying squirrels might peel back the papery outer of year we start watching for it. bark, and then chisel the brittle inner bark with their Chuck Schwartz, the former moose biologist with teeth. Sugars are concentrated in the inner bark (or Alaska Department of Fish and Game, first pointed this phloem). Birch branches are often scraped by hares, out to me in 1995 in the birch trees around the gate porcupines and moose to get at the sweet inner bark. at the end of Swan Lake Road. A quarter-inch strip In spruce trees the bark beetles (and bears) go for inner of bark on the trunks of young birch trees had been bark for precisely the same reason. peeled back in a coil; the chunky inner bark was gone, One key fact about the black-ring condition is its and you could see the wood underneath. The scars highly localized occurrence, initially seen at the end appeared to be several years old, because two lips of of Swan Lake Road. This fact makes the flying squir- black scar tissue had formed on either side of the gap. rel hypothesis plausible. Supposedly, flying squirrels These black lips made the larger scars quite vis- have been seen on the Kenai, but we have never been ible even when driving by on the road. Birch often able to confirm any actual sightings. A single family of

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 27 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 16 • April 20, 2001 flying squirrels might explain the localized occurrence of birch on the Kenai (and in the Anchorage area, as of the scarring. well), so why is this girdling so rare? We have col- In May 1996 we made a breakthrough: we dis- lected enough observations of this phenomenon on the covered fresh scars on birch trees along Finger Lakes northern peninsula to feel confident that this is not Road, west of Swanson River Road, 14 miles southwest just one smart red squirrel or family of red squirrels of the Swan Lake Road site. We could see the curls of who have discovered a good thing. Lutz reviewed the birch bark, the neatly chiseled inner bark, and fresh published literature of red squirrel feeding behavior wood in the eighth-inch grooves. Lips of scar tissue and found much discussion of tree injuries, such as re- had not yet formed, so there were no “black rings,” moving strips of bark 4 to 12 inches long from sugar such as we had seen at the end of Swan Lake Road. maples, but nothing quite like what he and we have When we checked this area in 1997, we could see last seen on birch trees. year’s scars but no new ones. Whatever was eating So, could it be flying squirrels, instead of red squir- these trees apparently had moved on. rels? Flying squirrels are famously hard to see. They In April 1997, refuge biotech Todd Eskelin pho- come out at dusk and, on rare occasions, are seen fly- tographed some nice examples of the black-ring con- ing from trees to bird feeders around Fairbanks and dition in Anchorage along the Tony Knowles Coastal Anchorage. A serious objection to the flying squirrel Trail. Our last definite sighting of fresh scars was in hypothesis, however, is that we have been able to find July 1999 near the end of Marathon Road. This Jan- no one up in the Interior who as seen such scarring uary, however, Todd noticed some birch in the Wolf patterns. There is lots of birch in the Interior, andone Lake area where the outer bark was peeled back in nar- can imagine that the sweet inner bark might be just row strips, but the inner bark was unbroken. The Wolf the ticket for nocturnal flying squirrels up north. Fur- Lake area, north of Finger Lakes Road, has extensive thermore, flying squirrels are typically found in ma- older scars with well-developed black rings of scar tis- ture forest habitat, whereas most of our scarred trees sue. are in the relatively young 1969 burn or 1947 burn ar- In 1999, Mal Furniss, a retired entomologist, sent eas. us a 1956 article from the Journal of Forestry, entitled Todd Eskelin suggests that there may be a several- “Damage to paper birch by red squirrels in Alaska” by step process here, and that we shouldn’t bank on find- Prof. H. J. Lutz of Yale. (The Sitka-white spruce hy- ing the missing flying squirrels to explain this phe- brid “Lutz” spruce on the Kenai is named after Prof. nomenon. Perhaps there is a disease or insect that Lutz, who contributed much to early forestry research occasionally gets into the birch and then squirrels (of in Alaska.) Lutz’s paper described extensive girdling whatever type) or birds or whatever feed on that dis- of birch on the north side of Turnagain Arm (Bird and eased site or insect by peeling back the bark to expose Indian Creek valleys) in 1952, in the Eagle River area it. in 1954, and also reported a few damaged birches near Bedlam Lake south of Point Possession. Several ex- In any case, we need more examples of this scar- cellent photos convinced us that Lutz was describing ring to put some of these speculations to the test. I en- precisely what we had been seeing in the 1990s. courage readers who have seen such scars (especially The problem with the Lutz paper, however, is that fresh ones) or, for that matter, who have seen any fly- it contained no evidence whatsoever that red squirrels ing squirrels, to please give me or Todd a call at 260- are the culprit. Lutz checked red squirrel skulls and 2812. We need some more breakthroughs! found that the incisor teeth fit the scars very well, as Ed Berg has been the ecologist at the Kenai Na- our Russian visitor Andreev had suggested for flying tional Wildlife Refuge since 1993. For more informa- squirrels. Lutz, however, reported no behavioral ob- tion about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill servations of red squirrels doing the damage. Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at We certainly have lots of red squirrels and lots http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

28 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 17 • April 27, 2001

Awaiting the return of the loons by Elizabeth Jozwiak

One of the great signs of spring is watching the chased in a variety of styles, shapes, weights, and sizes ice leaving the lakes and the loons returning to nest to meet every type of fishing need. and raise their young. This summer you may see lake Entanglement in fishing line is yet another hazard residents observing loons on some of the local from to loons. I removed a ball of monofilament line from a Kasilof to Nikiski, and on the Kenai National Wildlife loon last summer, and tried to get a fishhook out of the Refuge. leg of a common loon on the Kenai River two summers These newly dubbed “Loon Rangers” are partici- ago. There are several things you can do this summer pating in the Kenai Loon Watch project. They will to help keep Kenai loons healthy and productive: be monitoring loon behavior and biology from a non- obtrusive distance as part of the Alaska Loon Watch • Pick up discarded fishing line and tackle. Program. The data collected by Kenai Loon Watch volunteers will give biologists baseline information on the • Enjoy loons from a safe distance. If you see a status of loons and their nesting success on lakes in our loon rising out of the water, running and splash- area. ing across the surface, you are too close. If the Participation in the Loonwatch program for the adult loon has been scared off its nest, the eggs Kenai area has increased substantially. In 2000, there can chill and die or be eaten by a predator. were 16 loon watchers who reported their observa- • Stay clear of loons and their nesting areas while tions of loons on 36 area lakes as well as the Kenai boating, canoeing, or water skiing. Wakes can River. Thirteen lakes had breeding common loons, and destroy their shoreline nests and drown chicks. 10 lakes had loons whose eggs made it to the hatching stage. Seventeen chicks hatched and 16 chicks sur- • Keep dogs leashed and confined. Loose dogs and vived through the summer. Only two lakes reported other animals can destroy nests and eggs along finding reproductive pairs of Pacific loons. One lake lakeshores. had a Pacific loon pair that hatched eggs, and oneof the two chicks survived. • Join the Kenai Loon Watch project and become Although Alaska has healthy populations of loons a “Loon Ranger.” Contact the Kenai National statewide, there are some concerns about the future of Wildlife Refuge at 262-7021 for more informa- loons in areas that are heavily used by people. Fortu- tion. nately, studies in other states have shown that loons and people can coexist if care is taken. Tamara Mills, the Alaska Loonwatch Coordinator Ingestion of lead fishing sinkers is the single will present a slide show on the biology, behavior and largest cause of mortality for adult loons in New Eng- life history of loons at 7:00pm, Friday, April 27 at the land. Little information is known on how lead af- Kenai Peninsula College, Room 132. Please join us! fects loons on the Kenai Peninsula, and more research Elizabeth Jozwiak is a wildlife biologist at the Kenai is needed. But we do know that bald eagles on the National Wildlife Refuge. She also coordinates the lo- Kenai Peninsula have become poisoned from ingest- cal Kenai Loonwatch effort. For more information about ing lead. Ecologically safe alternatives to lead sinkers the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in such as steel and bismuth are now readily available at Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at http://www. cost-comparable prices to lead sinkers and can be pur- fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 29 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 18 • May 4, 2001

Reminiscences of a game warden by Chris Johnson

I have worked on the Kenai National Wildlife location, one of the reporting parties had set his rifle Refuge for the past 12 years as a law enforcement offi- down against a tree stump. We set the examined quar- cer. My actual title is ‘Refuge Officer’ but I am often re- ter down and then started working on another quar- ferred to as a “Game Warden.” As you can guess, I have ter. About two minutes later a shot rang out and tree all sorts of tales from my adventures and have heard all bark splattered all around us. One of the reporting par- kinds of excuses and reasons from people about why ties dropped to the ground like he had been shot. My they have broken the rules. I will share a few of my first thought was that one of the reporting parties had stories with you. As I sit down to write this article I shot at us. My next thought was that we were under have to laugh and shake my head as I recall some of fire from somebody claiming the moose. After several these incidents, and this in turn reminds me of other minutes we were able to sort out that the rifle lean- incidents. I will try to keep this article to just a few ing against the tree stump had gone off, after the hoof stories and if readers enjoy the topic, I am sure that I of the moose quarter we had just moved fell and hit can find a few more to tell in a future article. the safety and the trigger. The man that dropped like It was late fall on the Kenai River just below Skilak he had been shot actually had been hit by tree bark Lake. It was spitting snow and about 20°. I was hid- and was OK. After that I got down on my knees and ing in the bushes, and I observed a man land a large prayed. rainbow trout. I watched him kill the fish and put it in I was working in the Kenai Russian River Ferry his boat. I decided to contact the man at Lower Skilak area, and I was in uniform standing right behind this boat ramp. The season for rainbows was open andthe guy that had a snagged fish on his line. The man only requirement was that if you retained a rainbow landed the fish and then clubbed it. He took thehook over 20 inches, it had to be recorded on the back of out of its tail and put the hook in its mouth. He then your fishing license. Well, I contacted the man atthe unhooked the fish and turned around to put the fishin boat ramp, and he told me he had not caught any fish. his backpack. Well, when he turned around and saw I searched his boat high and low because I knew he me standing there, his eyes got as big as saucers and had kept the fish. While I was searching the boat, the that fish went about twenty feet in the air and came man was squirming around a lot. I thought he was re- right back down on top of the surprised snagger. ally nervous about something or real cold. Well, after To combat the illegal and dangerous practice of about 15 minutes the guy couldn’t handle it anymore hunters shooting from their vehicle or on or across and told me the fish I was looking for was down his a road, I use a decoy grouse set up just off the road. pants. The man opened up his pants and pulled a24- When a hunter comes along and shoots at my bird, inch rainbow trout out of his pant leg. He had failed I pop out of the trees and have a little meeting with to record the fish on his license and was afraid thatI the hunter and we discuss the merits of shooting from was going to take the fish from him. I gave him a pen. their vehicle or from or across the road. One after- In this next story the moose gets its revenge and noon I set my decoy up on Swanson River Road; along shoots back. I responded to a call about a sub-legal comes a car and out pops a guy with a .22 rifle. He moose found dead off of Marathon Road. I hiked into stands right in the center of the road and opens fire the kill area with a state protection officer and the on the decoy. I come out of the trees yelling, “Game reporting parties. The protection officer and Ipro- Warden, put your gun down!” The guy does not hear ceeded to start quartering and skinning the moose in me. He’s got tunnel vision, and all he can do is keep the hopes of recovering a bullet. As we finished with shooting at this bird like it was coming to eat him. He each quarter of the moose, we moved it out of our fires 14 rounds and then starts to reload before Ican way. We finished skinning and examining a hindquar- get him convinced that the bird was not going to eat ter with the hoof attached and moved it over to our pile him. of already examined meat. About three feet from that It has been fun reminiscing about old times.

30 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 18 • May 4, 2001

Retelling these stories has jogged my memory of other Chris Johnson has been a law enforcement officer on incidents. Other officers have reminded me of other the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge since 1989. He and stories and similar situations, in which they have been his wife Pam live in Sterling with their three children. involved. Until next time, remember to bring a child For more information about the Refuge, visit the head- hunting or fishing. Share the experience. They are our quarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or future! see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 31 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 19 • May 11, 2001

“Why firewise?”—1996 Crooked Creek Fire by Doug Newbould

Five years ago, something happened here on the copters also saw duty on the Crooked Creek Fire. Total Central Peninsula that should strike fear into the heart suppression costs were over two million dollars. of every property owner who has a home or business Three factors kept the Crooked Creek Fire from be- in the wildland-urban interface. Late on the night coming a major disaster: of June 6, 1996, a wildfire was reported about fifteen miles east-northeast of Ninilchik. At 10:00 p.m. the • the head of the fire ran into Tustumena Lake, fire had burned about five acres in a logging area.The stopping the forward spread weather was warm and dry with an air temperature • the weather changed for the better, diminishing of 70℉ and a relative humidity of 27% (very warm and the fire’s extreme behavior and allowing fire- very dry!). Winds were out of the south-southeast at fighters an opportunity to gain the upper hand 4-14 miles per hour. Within fifteen minutes of the fire report, the • there were no homes in the fire’s path on June Alaska Division of Forestry sent a helicopter with five 7th. (Only one recreational cabin was lost.) firefighters to initial-attack the fire. When the helitack crew arrived at the scene, they found the fire had dou- The frightening thing about Crooked Creek is that bled in size and was “running and spotting.” In other it could happen again…and it probably will. If the words, the fire was moving rapidly to the north and same weather conditions existed say in May, June or wind-carried burning embers were igniting spotfires July, and a fire started near Ninilchik for example, lit- out ahead of the flaming front. Additional firefighting erally hundreds of homes could be lost. And who resources including two engines, a medium helicopter can say how many lives could be lost as well. A fire with a bucket, a third helicopter for aerial reconnais- could start in Clam Gulch one evening, and twenty- sance, and five firefighters were soon on their wayto four hours later it could be burning up your house in the incident. Other resources were not readily avail- Kasilof. able because of the lateness of the hour and the large So the question is, “What can I do about it? How number of resources already committed to the Miller’s can I protect myself and my family?” The best answer Reach Fire at Big Lake. is, “Be FireWise.” Take the responsibility to make your When the additional help arrived that night to as- home and personal property safe from the ravages of sist the helitack crew, the fire had expanded consid- a wildfire. Create a defensible and survivable space erably and fire behavior was so intense that direct at- around your home. As Crooked Creek and Miller’s tack methods (such as attacking the edges of the fire Reach showed us all five years ago—you can’t simply directly) were not possible. The fire continued burn- rely on the suppression resources of Alaska to save ing actively throughout the night and into the next your bacon. As much as any dedicated and profes- day. On June 7th, in one burning period, it became sional firefighter in this great state would like tosave the largest wildfire the Peninsula had seen since the every person and home from a wildfire, someday there Swanson River Fire in 1969. By the end of that day the is going to be another fire that we can’t stop. Do your- fire perimeter encompassed 17,510 acres (that’s over self and us a favor. Be a survivor instead of a statistic. 27 square miles of forest). The fire behavior was most Call me, your state forester, or your local fire depart- extreme on that first full day of burning. By the time ment for more information about FireWise. We will an incident command team arrived and began to build do our best to help. a firefighting organization, the show was mostly over; Doug Newbould is the Fire Management Officer at most of the damage was already done. the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. He and his wife Pam Before the fire was officially contained onJune live in Sterling with their three children. For more infor- 13th, over 400 fire personnel had been assigned includ- mation about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski ing four hotshot crews and thirteen hand crews. Five Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at engines, seven dozers, two excavators and five heli- http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

32 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 20 • May 18, 2001

What happened to my campground? by Bill Kent

When this piece was written and published last I would like for you to understand the monetary spring, I was surprised at the number of folks who cost of this destruction. Many of our signs are made stopped me in town, or took time to call, to express of wood with routed lettering. If you’ve done any con- their agreement. I think the message remains valid, for struction work around the house, you know that lum- all public and private facilities on the Kenai Peninsula, ber and paint are expensive. Our carpenter who makes and deserves another perusal. Also, I want to thank these signs is paid a fair hourly wage for his skills. The all those who have called to provide information re- total cost of a three ft by four ft sign is about $400.Re- garding vandalism or other violations they have wit- pairing gunshot wooden signs is time consuming and nessed… Remember, without your assistance vandals not inexpensive. We also use aluminum signs which, will continue to practice the behavior which may deny depending on the size and lettering, may cost any- you the complete use of the facilities your tax dollars where from $10 to $500, or more. Replacing these signs have paid for. after they are shot or otherwise vandalized is a serious This is the time of year when the acts ofavery drain on our budget each year, and many signs cannot few visitors to Kenai Refuge come into sharper focus be repaired. for me. Perhaps the spring weather makes my ag- Besides the time and tax dollars spent replacing ing eyes a little sharper, or maybe it’s just because I signs, there is a real image problem portrayed to the am outside more… who knows? What becomes more Kenai Peninsula visitor. And even more important, evident as the snow melts is the destruction of, and sign shooting is done with total disregard for public total disregard for the facilities and resources (pub- safety. When you shoot along a road, it is only a mat- lic and private) of the entire Kenai Peninsula prac- ter of time before some motorist, bicyclist or pedes- ticed by a small but active segment of the population. trian gets injured or killed. They seem to think the campgrounds, signs, toilets, Occasionally someone thinks burning wooden trails, sheds, mailboxes, fences, and other structures outhouses and picnic tables is great fun, or takes a are erected with the intended purpose of being shot, picnic table out to the middle of a lake during ice- burned, torn apart, stolen, or generally defaced. fishing season. This is why we have been replacing our Please understand, I was born and raised in Geor- wooden outhouses and picnic tables with ones made gia where, as in most of the South, destructive vandal- of concrete. Every once in a while there may be a lit- ism is a way of life learned at an early age by many. So, tle justice: a couple of years ago someone shot up the this behavior is not unfamiliar to me. Nor is it limited inside of one of our new concrete outhouses. I can’t to the South; I have seen similar situations in every imagine that this person had too much fun immedi- part of the country where I have worked and lived. ately after pulling the trigger from inside four concrete But, those examples pale in comparison to the mag- walls. nitude of the havoc wreaked throughout Alaska, not “Well,” you might say, “Why don’t you catch only on the Kenai Peninsula. Do I notice the vandal- them?” That is a desire of everyone on our staff, no ism more because I live here? Of course I do; my fam- doubt. The biggest barrier to catching someone van- ily made a decision to make Alaska our home, and it dalizing a campground or shooting a sign is being seems a thoughtless few are trying to tear it apart or in the right place at the right time. Our best help burn it down, and I don’t like it. comes from people who witness something happen- As a test, consider any single mile of the Sterling ing and provide information about vehicles or descrip- Highway (outside the limits of Soldotna, Cooper Land- tions of the vandals. We cannot be everywhere at ing, or Sterling) where signs have been punctured or once and are grateful when someone concerned about defaced with various caliber bullets, shotgun pellets, their Refuge provides information, which we can use or spray paint; or where trash (sometimes entire bags) to bring charges against those who destroy facilities is strewn along the roadside. that belong to all of us.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 33 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 20 • May 18, 2001

If you would like more information about the van- Bill Kent has been the Supervisory Park Ranger at dalism problem or would like to provide us with in- Kenai National Wildlife Refuge since 1991. His wife Lisa formation about vandalism that you have witnessed, is a pre-school teacher, and their daughter Riley attends give me a call at Refuge Headquarters (262-7021). You SOHI. For more information about the Refuge, visit the can also phone in anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 in Kenai at 283-8477, or to Wildlife Safeguard at 800- or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/. 478-3347.

34 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 21 • June 1, 2001

Years of knowledge and experience go out the door by Rick Ernst

Though often a quiet scholar, supervisory biologist rhino at 30mph through the thorny brush. Mary also Ted Bailey has had a profound impact on the wildlife helped with leopard work as well as caring for and and people of the Kenai Peninsula. He will be retir- teaching their children. ing after almost 24 years of service to Kenai National In 1975 the family returned to Idaho where Ted Wildlife Refuge. His career has spanned the globe with worked as a research associate for the University of its greatest accomplishments here in Alaska. Idaho summarizing the data from his African study. Ted was born in a rural area of southeast Ohio. He eventually wrote a book entitled “The African He went to school in a one-room schoolhouse and af- Leopard” which is still considered a classic on the ecol- ter high school, enlisted in the Air Force. The mili- ogy of leopards. In April 1976 the family moved north tary provided the opportunity to “see the world” and to Alaska as Ted was hired by the Alaska Department for almost four years he traveled to Europe, the Mid- of Fish and Game to work at the Moose Research Cen- dle East and Africa. Ted began his college education ter (north of Sterling). In September 1977 Jim Frates, through extension courses while in the military be- then refuge manager, hired Ted as a wildlife biologist fore enrolling at Ohio State University. He received at the Kenai National Moose Range. In 1980 with the his bachelor’s degree in Zoology in 1965. His first job passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conser- with the Fish and Wildlife Service was as a fish biol- vation Act, the name and purpose of the Moose Range ogist in northwestern Nebraska, where he happened was legally changed to the Kenai National Wildlife to meet his wife, Mary. Mary was a schoolteacher in Refuge, the major purpose of the refuge was for the a one-room country school, who brought her class to conservation of not just moose but was expanded to a the fish hatchery for a field trip. After a year ofhatch- variety of fish and wildlife populations and habitats. ery work Ted decided to return to graduate school at Ted was excited and proud to work on a diverse Ohio State University where he received his Master of program: studying brown bears with Chuck Schwartz Science degree in 1968. from Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which Ted then wrote to many universities including the led to the formation of the Interagency Brown Bear Wildlife Coop Unit at the University of Alaska Fair- Study Team (included ADF&G, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Ser- banks interested in doing some research on wolver- vice, the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Ser- ine. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out. But fortu- vice); wolves (continued studies initiated by Rolf Pe- nately he went to work instead under Dr. Maurice terson, Michigan Technological University); and trum- Hornocker, the Wildlife Coop Unit leader at the Uni- peter swan surveys (initiated by former refuge man- versity of Idaho, studying bobcats. Ted liked the at- ager Will Troyer). Other species that were monitored mosphere at the University of Idaho because it was and researched included lynx, hares, marten, caribou, a much smaller school than Ohio State University, passerine birds, loons, beavers and wood frogs. and “professors actually talked to their students”. Ted Ted was instrumental in helping people realize earned his Ph.D. on bobcat ecology in 1973 and also that the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge is important to worked on a wolverine feasibility study during the a lot of critters, in addition to moose. Ted helped ini- 1972-73 winter near Hungry Horse, Montana. An op- tiate the 1985-86 caribou reintroduction (in coopera- portunity to study leopards in Africa came later in tion with Alaska Department of Fish and Game) which 1973, so Ted, Mary, and their three children: Becky, has been a big success. Ted lead the refuge’s 18-year Kim, and Brian headed for the “Dark Continent.” Ted lynx/hare monitoring and research program. He plans worked at Kruger National Park in the Republic of to complete a final report on the work after retirement. South Africa for two years studying leopards but had As the supervisor of the biology staff, Ted truly opportunities to assist in other studies such as captur- put “wildlife first” and his dedication to the natural re- ing white rhinos. He still carries a scar from getting sources of this refuge is an example for the rest of us hit in the face while on a capture team driving after a to follow. Ted and Mary plan on remaining on the Ke-

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 35 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 21 • June 1, 2001 nai Peninsula. While Ted plans on traveling, writing congratulate him on reaching this milestone in life, and generally relaxing, Mary wants to continue work- and we wish him good health so he can enjoy his re- ing for a few more years as a teacher. Ted has enjoyed tirement to the fullest! Good luck and best wishes Ted! working with people dedicated to wildlife conserva- For more information about the Refuge, visit the tion, and we as a staff will greatly miss his years of headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 knowledge and experience gained at this refuge. We or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

36 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 22 • June 8, 2001

Ch..Ch…Ch…Changes by Brenda Wise

When I was tasked to write an article for the no computers, and no reliable two-way radio commu- Refuge Notebook Series, I had something specific in nications. mind. Like things normally happen, something comes Campground and road maintenance was all han- up to change the ‘best laid plans of mice and men.’ For- dled out of the shop and crews went out daily to collect tunately, you learn to go with the flow and the many trash from the garbage cans located at the pull outs changes it brings. This article was originally going to and campsites. The outhouses were placed over ex- be about some of the refuge staff that has been around cavated pits and when the pit was full a new pit was for many years, but it too has changed. dug and the outhouse was moved. Now we have con- After talking with a few of the ‘old geezers,’ any- tracts with local businesses to pick up the dumpsters one that has been here over 17 years, I discovered they and pump the outhouses in the campgrounds. During are a wealth of information and have witnessed many winter, it would take two very long days in the road changes over the past 17 to 31 years. The one obvi- grader with an overnight stay, to maintain Swanson ous change was the refuge’s name. The Kenai Moose River and Swan Lake Roads compared to current seven Range, established in 1941, became the Kenai National hours in a dump truck with a plow. Wildlife Refuge in 1980, but many residents of the Over the past 25 years, glaciers have retreated up Peninsula still refer to it as the Moose Range. to ½ mile and the retreat of Skilak Glacier has given In the ‘old days,’ the Refuge Headquarters was lo- birth to a large lake at the front of the glacier. The cated on five acres of land in downtown Kenai. To- contracting and melting of the Harding Ice Field has day, it is located on 160 acres on Ski Hill Road in exposed barren rock and mountain tops that used to Soldotna. The permanent staff has gone from 10to be snow-covered during summer but are now free of 39. During the summer season, the staff grows to al- snow. Seasonal water levels are lower, small ponds most 80 and includes temporary employees, volun- have dried up, lake shorelines have shrunk and new teers, Youth Conservation Corps enrollees, and stu- islands have been formed as water levels lowered. The dent interns. The number of visitors has certainly effects of logging activities, wildfires, and bark beetles changed too, from a few thousand, to over half a mil- have also impacted trees and other vegetation. lion each year. Our fleet of vehicles has grown from This summer will begin a time of change assome 10 to 150, including heavy equipment, dump trucks, of our ‘old timers’ leave the Refuge to enjoy the re- flatbeds, fork lifts, snow machines, and boats. The wards that retirement will bring. We will miss them maintenance area grew from a two door mechanic and their dedication to the Refuge that they have given stall to one with four doors, a wood shop, and storage throughout their many years of public service. New buildings to house all the equipment. There are also names and faces will join the staff over the next year now approximately seven miles of trails at the current and bring about a new era of change. headquarters area for cross country skiing and nature Brenda Wise has been employed at the Kenai Na- walks. tional Wildlife Refuge as a Refuge Clerk for the past 12 Life was simpler then as well. Technologically years. For more information about the Refuge, visit the speaking, the office had an old Xerox machine that lit- headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 erally ‘burned’ copies. There were no fax machines, or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 37 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 23 • June 15, 2001

Refuge plans prescribed fire projects at Mystery Creek and Funny River by Doug Newbould

the propagation of hardwood (deciduous) shrubs and trees. This will produce the double benefit of reducing hazardous fuels and improving browse production for moose and hares. Like most prescribed fires, this burn will provide us opportunities to train firefighters in the use of fire tools and equipment and to observe fire behavior in different Alaskan fuel types. Ongoing research at Mystery Creek includes wildlife studies, fire effects monitoring, and a special study conducted by the Pacific Northwest Research Station (US Forest Service) relating duff consumption and particulate emissions. For the past three years, travelers on the Funny River Road have noticed changes to the forest along Fire management staff with glowing embers from a burn. the south side of the road where we have been thinning the trees. The goal here is to reduce the wild- Every spring the fire management staff at the Ke- fire hazard in the “wildland-urban interface,” by ande- nai National Wildlife Refuge prepares to implement fendable fire break and escape route for residents from certain prescribed fire projects. This year our plans Funny River to Soldotna. We are doing this by remov- include continuing work at Mystery Creek and along ing hazardous fuel concentrations of black spruce and Funny River Road, plus two new projects. beetle-killed white spruce. The Mystery Creek project area is located about We have allowed the plastic-covered slash piles five miles north of the Sterling Highway and tenmiles along Funny River Road to cure over the winter and east-southeast of Swan Lake, between the Mystery planning to burn them this fall. We will complete the Creek Road and the Enstar natural gas pipeline right- cutting phase of the project this summer, and all pile of-way. There are five contiguous burn units inthe burning should be completed by the fall of 2002, re- 5000-acre project area, much of which was burned by sulting in a 6.5-mile fuel break. wildfire in 1947. The existing forest fuel type is bestde- New fire management projects for this year in- scribed as a black spruce-lichen woodland, with scat- clude an interagency cooperative research prescribed tered stands of white spruce, bluejoint grass meadows burn on state lands 5 miles southeast of Ninilchik and and muskeg wetlands. a cooperative wildland-urban interface project with Two years ago, we successfully burned one unit Funny River Emergency Services. Of course, the com- and part of a second for about 500 acres or 10 percent pletion of any or all of the projects I have mentioned of the project area. Last year the extreme fire season depends upon the kind of fire season we have here in the Lower 48 precluded the completion of planned on the Kenai Peninsula, in Alaska and nationally, and fire projects at Mystery Creek and elsewhere on the upon the weather. Fortunately, I don’t have to predict Refuge, as we joined the national effort to fight those the severity of the fire season or the weather, I just fires. Hopefully, this year will be different. have to prepare for the challenges both might present. Our fire management objectives at Mystery Creek Doug Newbould is the Fire Management Officer at are hazard fuel reduction, habitat enhancement, re- the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. For more informa- search, and training. The prescription is to burn the tion about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill units when fuel moistures are relatively low, so as Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at to remove black spruce and expose mineral soil for http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

38 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 24 • June 21, 2001

Dad’s day on the Russian River by Rick Johnston

unique to salmon streams where fish, people, and wildlife share a common real estate for a few brief weeks. Most of us were probably taught to fish in slightly more solitary situations, where neighboring fisherman are unwelcome. Approaching another’s fishing spot closer than 100 yards would be down right unthinkable. I got my first exposure to Russian River combat fishing while working for Chugach National Forest in 1976. The Kenai-Russian River confluence was the craziest thing I had ever seen, and I swore I would never fish there. In those days most people didn’t know how to fish for red salmon. A veteran Alaska Department of Fish and Game befriended me, and with a vow of secrecy he agreed to show me how to fish for sockeyes. I became perhaps the fourth or fifth person to not cast for sockeyes, but to dabbleafly by fly rod and therefore increase my success. It had not been that many years since fresh water snagging had become illegal or that fishing with sin- Fisherman in close proximity at the Russian River. Photo gle hook flies had been implemented. The technique by USFWS. of dabbling one’s line close to shore without casting was known only to a very few persons. No one at the Ouch‼! That really hurt! I had been hoping toget Kenai-Russian River confluence used this technique. through Father’s Day with no injuries and a shred of Most preferred to cast their fly way off shore. “The dignity. I figured that taking the family fishing atthe further the cast, the bigger the fish,” a tourist from Ne- Russian River was a relatively safe and problem-free braska once told me. Today, any second-day Russian undertaking, but…. I had just made the beginner error River veteran will tell you, “…. the only thing you’ll of putting too much pressure on a southbound sock- catch that way is an unlucky gull traveling overhead.” eye salmon. The line gave way below the sinker and In those days everyone seemed to be slow learn- the one-ounce weight became a slingshot projectile, ers and though the catch per hour ratio was much less hitting me on the ankle. Being a hockey player for40 than that of today’s highly efficient experts, it was years, I’m no stranger to a sharp blow on the ankle, still the most productive legal fishing around. Rus- but that weight really smarted. I could only imagine sian River and it’s confluence with the Kenai River what it would have done to an eye or face. Every year had been one of the most productive wild salmon har- the Central Peninsula Hospital becomes an unplanned vest locations in Alaska and North America since the tourist stop for “Combat Fishing” casualties. I should 1950’s, and it remains so today. Until relatively re- have known better, having observed fishermen with cently almost everyone believed that sockeye salmon salmon fishing wounds for over twenty five years and could only be caught legally (in the mouth) at the Rus- having performed more than a few stream-side surg- sian River. Fisherman would wait until one of the two eries on fisherman who refused medical attention in Russian River runs reached the Russian River conflu- lieu of continuing to fish: “Just push it through and ence before the fishing frenzy began. At that time the snip the barb!” belief that sockeyes could only be caught at the Rus- Fishing in really crowded situations…so-called sian served to enhance the mystique and the fishing “combat fishing”… is a cultural phenomenon mostly pressure.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 39 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 24 • June 21, 2001

As fishing techniques and run size improved ing mo jo working, you might as well go home. My dad though the 1980’s, fisherman discovered that for the on a Father’s Day long ago said, “You have to hold your second and larger salmon run, the main stream Kenai mouth just right when you fish, son.” Staying focused River was also a productive place to bank fish for sock- yet indifferent to time and space is essential for Rus- eyes. Hard-core combat fisherman learned to follow sian River fishing, as is reducing distractions like kids the second run from several-less-than-secret locations and fishing companions who lack patience and would on the mid-Kenai River all the way to the Russian as rather be somewhere else. A Zen master would prob- the salmon moved upstream. ably make a good Russian River salmon fisherman, if Shoulder-to-shoulder fishing brings fishermen to- it weren’t for the clubbing part. gether in very tight quarters for a common purpose. In The phenomena of taking maximum advantage of many ways it is not unlike the situation at the McNeil a renewable salmon resource including harvesting a River Brown Bear Sanctuary where bears that would bunch of salmon in a short period of time is nothing not otherwise be caught dead so close to so many other new, but probably just as frenzied today as it was his- bears set caution and normal social distance aside in torically. Archeologist has documented numerous pe- the interest of maximizing their salmon catch. I’ve riods of early native encampments and salmon harvest seen the most finicky wilderness recreationists loose at the Kenai-Russian River confluence. all crowd inhibitions in the interest of catching a limit Social scientists, recreation managers and biolo- of Russian River salmon. Kind of like me on Father’s gist have been trying to manage and understand com- Day being at the Russian River, when I own all kinds of bat fishing for about as long as I’ve been familiar with equipment capable of transporting me into the back- the Russian. Much like present biologists, early state country far from the maddening crowds. But, on that biologists focused mostly on insuring salmon spawn- particular day the salmon were in at the Russian, and ing escapement in order to insure the future of the run. I was on a mission. The Sportfish Division of the Alaska Department There are all sorts of interesting social and behav- of Fish and Game has been actively involved in count- ioral interactions occurring at south-central Alaska ing escapement and “managing” the fishing effort combat fisheries. Persons that otherwise wouldn’t since the early 1960’s. Emergency openings and clo- give their neighbor the time of day turn into good sures based on stream counts and escapement projec- Samaritans with a ready dip net for a netless stranger. tions are their primary tools. Kenai Refuge involve- Others who are generally social and friendly react like ment began somewhat reluctantly with public safety solitary grumpy brown bears that encounter a crowd and regulatory concerns. The early Russian River of bears fishing at McNeil River. Persons who ordi- Ferry was the first recreational special use permit on narily wouldn’t dream of littering, discard monofil- the Refuge and certain instances of trespass construc- ament line in the river like sowing grass seed. Or tion on Refuge lands at the confluence were among the guy I saw drinking a beer, who set it down and the first documented law enforcement actions onthe then got dragged downriver by an eight-pound sock- newly established game range. eye. The fish got away, and so did the beer can. About Basic access and permit issues in the 1950’s gave 20 salmon got away near where we were fishing, but way to housekeeping (refuse disposal), campground so did a dozen beer cans. maintenance, public safety, and wildlife conflict con- On my Father’s Day fishing expedition, a foreign- cerns as crowds increased in the 1960’s after the open- speaking lady of apparent northern European origin ing of the Sterling highway from Anchorage. was fishing just downstream and caught five salmon As crowds continued to increase and the term to my one salmon. I was beginning to feel more like “combat fishing” was coined, managers wondered out the mean bear than the Samaritan. My six-year-old loud if such socially dense fishing was appropriate on daughter kept asking why, a storied ranger like myself a National Wildlife Refuge. Managers were caught who according to my stories had practically invented between wanting to maintain a certain quality expe- the Russian River fishing technique, couldn’t catch as rience and providing opportunity to all that sought many fish as the lady downstream had caught. it. One recreational staffer even proposed mandatory This brings up another thing about Russian River numbered stations (posts) along the riverbank to in- fishing; despite long term experience or knowledge sure quality control spacing for fisherman. State fish- about catching sockeyes, if you haven’t got your fisheries biologists seeking maximum opportunity (har-

40 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 24 • June 21, 2001 vest) were often not on the same page with Refuge staff ing to out fish European visitors and keep a one-ounce who were more concerned with where such crowds fit weight from hitting important body parts. into the concept of a National Wildlife Refuge. And what of the crowds and the future of Russian In the 1980’s the concept of streamside social en- River fishing? Then and now there has been what so- gineering gave way to more pragmatic concerns, such cial scientists refer to as “invasion displacement.” In as reasonable limits on parking area, conflict reduction other words, whenever the combat fishing experience (like controls on upper river motorboats), litter reduc- and crowding reaches an individual’s limit, there is al- tion, and resource protection. Management since the ways one…. perhaps two more newcomers with more 1990’s has focused on further refinement on previous crowd-tolerance to take the displaced person’s spot. visitor management strategies and the establishment Thus goes the never-ending cycle of happy crowds and of professional concession contract. Bank protection, departing unhappy ex-fishermen. When I first arrived habitat protection and bear-human conflict reduction at Kenai National Wildlife, for example, I met several will probably be the next major concerns. There is still persons that said that they had reached their limit at much to achieve in reducing brown bear-fisherman the Russian about 1969; “It’s too crowed for me,” they conflicts at Russian River. Annually, there are several said. And now each era has people saying the same near misses and incidents between bears and fisher- thing with the crowds each year increasing. Some peo- man, even on the lower portion of the Russian River. ple from international big cities like New York, Tokyo On one hand, the 30,000 plus anglers annually seem or Berlin may never reach the “too crowded” situation. collectively too important to displace for a few hungry Then again desperate persons like me on Dad’s Day bears, yet on the other hand…it is a National Wildlife who have no shame will probably always sneak a trip Refuge and any loss of prime feeding areas can is sig- or two in semi-annually. nificant. For the average fisherman, the behind-the-scenes Rick Johnston is a Ranger/Pilot at Kenai National fisheries management, escapement, wildlife, crowd- Wildlife Refuge. For more information about the Refuge, ing, litter, public safety, and budget issues associated visit the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, with the Russian River are of little concern. Like me call 262-7021 or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/ on Father’s Day, it’s enough to think about, just try- refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 41 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 25 • July 6, 2001

Hmmmmmm…..was that a hummingbird? by Todd Eskelin

terial like cottonwood fluff. Typically, nests are located in the droopy branches of a large spruce tree about 8 to 12 feet above the ground. In Southeast Alaska they have been known to build nests in ferns and vines overhanging embankments. So, if you can’t find a nest, how do we know where they are breeding? The best way is to watch for them at your flower garden or hummingbird feeder and look for young birds. Soon after they leave the nest, the parents will take the youngsters to their favorite feeding areas and teach them how to find nectar. The parents will collect some nectar while the fledglings are watching nearby. Then Rufous hummingbird photographed by Andrew Reding you will see the parents go over and regurgitate the http://www.inaturalist.org/photos/1917761. nectar to the fluffy little fledglings. So if youhave hummingbirds in your yard, pay special attention in the end of June and early July to see if there are any I am often asked, “What is the smallest birdin fluffy young birds that do not fly very well. Thisisa Alaska?” That’s easy, the Rufous Hummingbird. Your sure sign that there was a nest in your area. typical Rufous Hummingbird is less than four inches long and weighs 3.25 grams, only slightly heavier than There are several things we can do to attract hum- a penny. People next want to know where they can see mingbirds to our yards. The best way is provide them a hummingbird. That is a tougher question. Rufous with plenty of nectar. Hummingbirds require one half Hummingbirds breed from Northern California up the of their body weight a day just to stay warm. During coast through Prince William Sound. They are known late summer they need to store fat for the long migra- to breed in Portage and have been documented breed- tion so they will eat/drink even more. Approximately ing along the south coast of Kachemak Bay. They have 85% of their diet is nectar, but they do supplement it not yet been found breeding here in the central Kenai with small insects and an occasional spider. Planting Peninsula, but I am convinced there is a good chance the entire yard with showy tubular type flowers like that they might. paintbrushes, mints, larkspurs and honeysuckle is a Rufous Hummingbirds may be small, but what good start at bringing in hummers. Bright red flowers they lack in size they compensate for with one of the are often favorites for most hummingbirds. Fireweed most amazing migrations known in the bird world. is also a preferred food in our area. If gardening is not During late July these little adventurers leave Alaska your forte, try hummingbird feeders filled with artifi- and head south to Mexico. If one measures the dis- cial nectar. These feeders require a lot of maintenance, tance in body lengths, this is a greater migration than as they are very susceptible to fungus and mold. It the famed Arctic Tern, which flies over 11,000 miles to is recommended that these feeders be cleaned at least its wintering area in Antarctica. Many Alaskans head once per week with soap and hot water. Another prob- to Mexico for the winter, but we fly in a 737. Pound lem is that they attract unwelcome visitors like bears for pound it would take 78,000,000 hummingbirds to and bees. The bear problem can be avoided by hanging match the weight of one 737 commercial jet. the feeder where it is unreachable by bears. If you have Chances are you will never find a hummingbird a bear visit, take the feeder down and put it away for nest, even if it is in your own back yard. Most Ru- another year. A well-kept flower garden does a good fous Hummingbird nests are made of lichens, moss job at attracting and keeping these tiny birds around. and fragments of bark, bound together with strands So the next time you are in the yard and you think of spider web and lined with soft downy plant ma- you hear a bumblebee buzzing around in the flower

42 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 25 • July 6, 2001 patch, take a second to check and see if it isn’t a hum- tional Wildlife Refuge (262-7021). mingbird grabbing a bite to eat before a long journey Todd Eskelin, a Biological Technician, has conducted south. There have been a couple of accidental sight- bird studies throughout the state specializing in song- ings of other hummingbird species in Anchorage like birds. He recently accepted a position at the Kenai the Costa’s Hummingbird a few years ago and Anna’s Refuge where he plans to continue his work with birds. Hummingbird has been seen. If you see any humming- For more information about the Refuge, visit the head- birds on the Kenai Peninsula, please take a picture, and quarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or report your sightings to Todd Eskelin at the Kenai Na- see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 43 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 26 • July 13, 2001

Jim Frates retires, was former Moose Range Chief by Samantha Bartling

career and leaves a space in the Refuge’s organiza- tional chart that will be tough to fill. His jobs have ranged from Refuge Manager to his current job of Refuge Operations Specialist, where he oversees me- chanical and facilities operations, as well as oil and gas activities on the refuge. Oil and gas operations on a National Wildlife Refuge are a delicate matter. Since 1957, oil companies have had a Congressionally- mandated right to explore and develop petroleum resources on the non-wilderness parts of the refuge. Jim’s job was to assist oil and gas activities, so that the work could be done without compromising the Refuge’s purposes of protecting wildlife habitat. As one can imagine, this is no easy task. Years of experience, a personable style, and a quick wit have served Jim well in this balancing act. Brian Millyard, a Marathon Oil Field Operator, says that “I really appreciate all Jim has done; he is just a really good guy.” Jim’s co-worker, mechanic Al O’Guinn, echoes Mill- yard’s comments, “He is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever worked with. He is highly respected and will be greatly missed.”

Jim’s path through the USFWS to Alaska’s Ke- nai National Wildlife Refuge started in the Lower-48 where Jim graduated from Colorado State University in 1963. Upon graduation he worked as a pheasant research biologist for both the Nebraska and South Dakota Game Commissions, moving in 1965 to District Game Manager for a seven-county region in north- eastern South Dakota. This job led to his 1966 entrance into the US Fish and Wildlife Service as an assistant Jim Frates, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Operations refuge manager at the Tamarac NWR in Minnesota. Specialist, at the Swanson River Field discovery well. US- Between 1968 and 1973, Jim served as Refuge Manager FWS Photo by Tiffany A. S. Parson. on the Lostwood, Desoto, and DesLacs Refuges. Four years later, in 1977, Jim saw his first moose, outside With two radio stations, no fast food establish- of a zoo setting. “Oddly enough, (the moose) was the ments, no stoplights, and soon after the “glaciers had first local resident I saw after entering the Kenai city retreated from the Kenai lowlands,” Jim Frates arrived limits,” which began his 17-year stint on the Kenai Na- on the Kenai Peninsula in 1977 as the new Manager tional Wildlife Refuge. Jim was Refuge Manager from of the Kenai National Moose Range. He is now retir- 1977 until 1980 when he transferred to the USFWS’s ing, after seeing the Moose Range re-named Kenai Na- Anchorage Regional office to participate in developing tional Wildlife Refuge in 1980, and with a total of 34 long-range conservation plans for Refuges in the Bris- years with the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). tol Bay/Aleutian Islands region. In 1985 Jim returned Jim’s departure marks the end of an outstanding to Kenai Refuge to undertake his current position.

44 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 26 • July 13, 2001

As Jim takes a look back on his career, he notes: on the slope, and son Bobby is Director of Parks and “Working with people who passionately care about the Recreation for the City of Kenai, while daughter Bar- resources and critters with which they are charged bara lives in Boise. Jim expects that writing, photog- with protecting and managing was kind of personal raphy, and yard work will be taking the place of meet- ‘glue’ which kept me so attached to my job for so ings, e-mails, reports, and deadlines. With honor, ac- many years.” One of Jim’s most memorable moments complishments, and years of dedication in his wake, was initiating the construction of the new headquar- Jim exits the Service noting that “Even though it’s ters/visitor center; the building atop Ski Hill Road sometimes a staggering concept, I’ll miss the feeling would not be the hub of the 1.92 million-acre, with- going to work each morning with the recognition that out his efforts. the entire public was my employer.” Upon retirement, when the beginning of the work- Samantha Bartling is an intern with the Student week approaches, Jim plans on sleeping a bit later and Conservation Education Program at Kenai National enjoying the fact that an alarm clock will no longer be Wildlife Refuge. For more information about the Refuge, a trigger to the start of the day. He plans on staying in visit the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, the Kenai-Soldotna area where his wife Marlene will call 262-7021 or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/ continue working with the Kenai Peninsula School refuge/kenai/. District. Jim’s son Brad works for Phillips Petroleum

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 45 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 27 • Jul 20, 2001

Did beetle-kill forests burn in the past? by Ed Berg

We have a lot of dead beetle-killed spruce forest (unburned) snags, which died in 1884 with good beetle on the Peninsula, and we have had two scary fires in scars. (We look for the maternal galleries, which are these forests in recent years. The 1996 Crooked Creek 3-4 inches long and a quarter inch wide, lying paral- Fire northeast of Ninilchik spread quite rapidly with a lel with the axis of the tree. These can be quite vis- strong wind and covered 17,510 acres in a remote area. ible on old barkless wood.) The absence of evidence, The 1998 Hutler Road fire east of Homer could have of course, proves nothing, but is possible that bench- burned up many homes, but fortunately homeowners lands escaped the 1870’s beetle infestation because of generally had prepared good defensible spaces, and the higher elevation (above 1000 feet) and cooler envi- quick response by the firefighters prevented a major ronment. disaster. The second area for a possible beetle kill-and-fire If however we look further back into the past, can connection is the broad forested zone from Ninilchik we see evidence of beetle-killed forests burning? This to Anchor Point. This forest is predominantly contin- question has puzzled me for several years, and I am uous white spruce with not much hardwood. It has ex- tentatively prepared to argue that over the last two perienced 90-100% mortality of the mature spruce, and hundred years, we have at this point no evidence of has been heavily logged in recent years. Last month fires in beetle-kill. We have looked at tree-rings in we looked in detail at an uncut stand on East Road, 17 stands on the Peninsula, from Kachemak Bay to southeast of Ninilchik, which is being considered for the Swanson River oilfield northeast of Kenai. We a prescribed burn next year by the Alaska Division of see evidence of bark beetle outbreaks over the whole Forestry. This stand is representative of the area, butit in the Homer area Peninsula in the 1810’s–1820’s, is only one sample of a large area and our results must and regional outbreaks on the southern Peninsula in be considered tentative. the 1870’s–1880’s, and the northern Peninsula in the This stand had a somewhat “even-aged” mature 1970’s. We also see evidence of local outbreaks at var- look, where the largest trees are about the same size, ious other times, such as the Mystery Hills in the early i.e., 15-20 inches in diameter in this case. Even-aged 1980’s. In none of these sites do we see any evidence stands are typically formed after a fire; the largest trees of a stand-replacing fire after a beetle outbreak. are all about the same age and were recruited within 10 There are two areas that would seem to be par- years or so after the fire. Appearances can be deceiv- ticularly good candidates to find evidence of fire after ing, however, and we were definitely fooled by this beetle kill: the Tustumena benchlands and the forests one. The largest trees dated from the late 1700’s to south of Deep Creek to the Anchor River. The Tustu- the 1850’s, indicating that they only appeared to be mena benchlands experienced a series of burns, dat- of similar age but really were not. Furthermore, we ing at 1871, 1891, and 1910 reburn, according to trap- found no burned wood in the stand, which one would per Andrew Berg who lived in the Tustumena Lake expect from a 19th century burn. We took Pulaskis area from the 1890’s until his death in 1939. The tree- and opened up old moss-covered logs on the ground, rings show that the central and southern Peninsula hoping to find charcoal (or beetle scars) on these logs forests near the coast experienced heavy beetle kill in as evidence of fire, but only found thoroughly rotten the 1870’s, so the timing is right for the 1871 bench- wood. These unburned rotten logs indicate that at lands fire. least one generation of trees has come and gone on Up on the benchlands one can still find a lot of this site before the present generation of trees. dead and partially burned wood in certain areas, which We did find locally abundant charcoal-covered probably escaped the 1910 reburn of the earlier burned wood in the soil, especially among exposed roots in areas. On two trips we have examined a lot of this throw mounds of blown-over birch trees in an adjacent wood for beetle scars, but have never found any sign of logged area. This charcoal shows that the stand did them. In the Homer area, however, we have found old burn at some point within the 8000 years that spruce

46 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 27 • Jul 20, 2001 forests have been on the Peninsula. We are getting a studies? Unfortunately, no. The climate is warmer and radiocarbon date on this charcoal, but we expect that drier today. Basically, it is drought, not beetle kill that it will show that the stand has not burned for at least creates the real fire hazard. A drought-stressed live 400-500 years. spruce next to your house is every bit as flammable In the tree-rings from this site we can see a growth as a beetle-killed spruce. We have had an unbroken release in the 1880’s, which is typical of our southern run of warm summers since 1987, which has increased Peninsula sites, and we can say with reasonable cer- evapotranspiration and caused a regional drying of the tainty that this forest was thinned by the bark beetles landscape. This drying can be seen in falling water during the regional outbreak of the 1870’s. So once tables in wetlands and closed-basin lakes. Dead or again, we see that a forest that did not burn after a live, our spruce trees burn just fine when they are dry. beetle outbreak. Residents in the 1996 Big Lake Fire no doubt remem- To sum up, in the Tustumena benchlands we had a ber how that fire burned so destructively in well-dried fire in 1871, but apparently no beetle-kill, whereas in black spruce that was quite alive and had no beetle-kill the Ninilchik East Road site we had beetles but no fire in it. afterward. The East Road site is thus typical ofthe16 Ed Berg has been the ecologist at the Kenai Na- stands, which we have previously studied, which show tional Wildlife Refuge since 1993. For more informa- beetle outbreaks at various times but no evidence of tion about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill fire. Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at Should a homeowner draw consolation from these http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 47 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 28 • July 27, 2001

Refuge bird expert shares birding knowledge and skills by Candace Ward

Todd grew up on the Kenai Peninsula. He credits his fascination for birds from his college days at Lewis & Clark College in Oregon. He studied ornithology under Dr. Don McKenzie and found he was fascinated by what could be learned from the delicate birds he handled during bird banding sessions. He also enjoyed teaching other students bird banding techniques. Todd has given banding demonstrations to hundreds of students throughout Alaska. He has also trained numerous professional resource agency staff in banding techniques. Todd has experienced some interesting bird en- counters over the years. He banded a redpoll on the Alaska Peninsula that he later recaptured in Sol- dotna along Funny River Rd. When observing the Refuge bird expert Todd Eskelin will be sharing his Kenai River Flats for distant migrants, he spotted a knowledge on August 28th semi-palmated sandpiper with a distinctively colored leg band and found it had originally been banded in Ecuador. Whether it’s bird watching at your home feeder or Besides his many biological duties, Todd enthusi- traveling to exotic places in search of a rare “life list” astically helps visitors with precise and technical bird- bird, birding represents one of life’s most fascinating ing questions. Numerous times he has expertly identi- pleasures. Have you ever realized that much of our fied an unknown bird that has everyone else stumped. knowledge about birds is a result of skilled bird cap- Since Todd cannot always be available, he collaborated ture and banding work? Biological Technician Todd on the creation of Refuge specific guide, Birding the Ke- Eskelin will share just how important such work is in nai National Wildlife Refuge. This booklet helps birders a program, The How and Why of Bird Banding, atthe to locate birds by habitat on refuge trails and adjacent Kenai National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday, August to roadway areas. This guide is available for purchase 28, at 11:00 a.m. Todd will set up mist nets and live at the Refuge Visitor Center. At Todd’s Saturday pro- capture birds demonstrating banding techniques first gram, The How and Why of Bird Banding, there will hand. be a free drawing to win the guide along with other Todd has traveled the length and breadth of Alaska birding items. Join us for a fun and eye opening pro- researching seabirds, songbirds, and migratory water- gram. fowl. Since 1993 he has worked on a variety of bird Candace Ward has worked as a park ranger at Ke- research projects in north central Alaska, the Gulf of nai National Wildlife Refuge for seventeen years in the Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and on refuge education and visitor service programs. She is an the Kenai Peninsula. In addition, Todd has also flown avid backyard birder and enjoys expanding her birding long hours in a Cessna 206 conducting sea duck sur- horizons. For more information about the Refuge, visit veys for the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service on the North the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262- Slope, over the Bering Sea, and from Scammon Bay to 7021 or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/ False Pass. kenai/.

48 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 29 • August 3, 2001

How will beetle-killed forest look in 40 years by Ed Berg

My crew and I have just returned from a trip of 40 years in the same stand. years into the future. Our time machine was a Cessna Viewed from the air this forest has an open tex- 185 which dropped us off at Barabara Lake on the far ture, because the big trees are fairly widely spaced. northern end of the Kenai Peninsula, five miles south This openness gives the forest a park-like appearance, of Turnagain Arm. I and refuge biotechs Candy Godin, if one can ignore the dense devil’s club understory. Doug Fisher, and Pam Russell came to study a forest You don’t walk or run through this park, because you which was heavily hit by spruce bark beetles in 1958- are constantly climbing over rotten logs hidden in the 59. We wanted to see how well this forest has regrown grass, while fending off the devil’s club with leather- after 40 years. Will the present beetle-killed stands of gloved hands. Nevertheless with all the live trees the the Kenai Peninsula look like this forest 40 years from forest has a lush moist feel to it, and we thoroughly now? enjoyed working in it. I have never seen so many red The 1950 aerial photos show this area asa current bushes, and had to take frequent berry-picking closed canopy mixed white spruce and birch forest— pauses as part of the vegetation sampling protocol. classic Kenai Peninsula old growth forest. The post- When the devil’s club berries are ripe in the fall beetle 1975 aerial photos show much less live spruce. this forest should be Valhalla for black bears. We Viewing the 1975 photos stereoscopically (in three- didn’t see any bears, although one visited our camp dimensions) we could see dead spruce trees sticking while we were gone. It clawed my tent rainfly, and bit up everywhere like little toothpicks. In the 1996 pho- through an aluminum lid on a pot, but didn’t go after tos the toothpicks were all gone, and more birch was our plastic food barrel or get into our tents. present. When we hiked through this area we saw that Our 300 meter transect showed good amounts of the photos had not lied. In three days we couldn’t find winter browse for moose and hares (especially birch, a single standing dead spruce tree from the 1958-59 red current and highbush cranberry), but the shrubs beetle-kill; every tree of that vintage was down on the were lightly browsed compared to shrubs in the cen- ground. Many down trunks were moss-covered and tral Peninsula. The area could probably support many quite rotten; others had fallen more recently and still more moose, but predators such as bears and wolves had 20-30% of the bark on the trunk, and the old beetle may be keeping the moose population in check. scars were quite visible. This forest definitely answers I am pleased to report that this forest is reproduc- the often-asked question: how many years will it take ing itself quite nicely. We found young white spruce of for all the beetle-killed trees to fall down? Answer: 40 all sizes flourishing in the understory, often growing years. on rotten stumps and logs (“nurse logs”), which wede- We took more than 100 increment core samples scribe as “germinating up in the air.” This is the typical from the largest spruce trees, and counted stems of mode of seedling recruitment in an old growth forest, all woody plants along a 300 x 4 meter transect. The and it contrasts with recruitment after a fire where the wide tree-rings in the increment cores showed that the seeds germinate on exposed mineral soil. We could see trees had grown rapidly since the 1960’s. These trees that the parent trees had also been recruited up in the were the “little guys” that survived the beetle attack air. Virtually every large spruce had a forked base, not and were released from competition by the death of uncommonly with a hole between the root knees. (If their larger neighbors. you don’t mind sticking your hand in these holes, you We could also see earlier periods of wider rings in can often pull out some old rotten wood from the nurse many of the trees, suggesting beetle thinnings in the log, even after several hundred years have passed since 19th century. This pattern of periodic thinning and re- the tree germinated.) lease is typical of the 18 stands that we have previ- The key to the success of this forest after the1958- ously examined in detail around the Kenai Peninsula 59 beetle outbreak was the survival of a cohort of and Cook Inlet. We often see releases every 75 to 100 smaller trees (which were as much as 150-200 years

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 49 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 29 • August 3, 2001 old). These trees grew faster and account for most of have always grown back, some faster than others, and the present timber volume in the stand. More impor- generally not on the scale of one human’s memory. tantly, they are the seed parents for the crop of new With our present warmer climate we can expect more seedlings and saplings which will create the next gen- chronic low-level beetle infestation, and it will occur eration of trees. in smaller trees. With the spruce not living as long, Many of the present beetle-killed stands on the we should see a greater proportion of hardwoods like Kenai Peninsula look the way this stand looked 40 birch, aspen, and alder in the forests, because these years ago; they have a good crop of smaller surviving species are not bothered by the beetles. More hard- trees which will regenerate the future forest. There woods should reduce fire risk, and will certainly beto are stands, however, which have very few surviving the liking of moose and hares, and everything that eats trees (big or little), and are pretty much wall-to-wall moose and hares. For many of us the present beetle dead mature spruce with very little hardwood. Ide- outbreak has been a trauma, but it is all part of the ally, these stands should be burned, or harvested and natural process, and life will go on. The future of our replanted. With no seed parents, these dead stands forests looks bright indeed, if we step back and take will be taken over by dense bluejoint grass (Calama- the longer view. grostis). This grass forms a thick sod and lowers the Ed Berg has been the ecologist at the Kenai Na- soil temperature, which makes it difficult for seeds to tional Wildlife Refuge since 1993. For more informa- germinate and take root. tion about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill On a Peninsula-wide scale we have studied how Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at forests have regrown after the beetle outbreaks of the http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/. 1810’s-1820’s, 1870’s, 1910’s, and 1970’s. The forests

50 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 30 • August 10, 2001

The Mystery Hills Fire offers us a snapshot by Doug Newbould

The big, lumbering thunderheads marched single- and describe the surrounding fire environment (local file northeast along the western foothills of the Kenai weather, fuels, terrain features and values at risk). This Mountains. These were no ordinary Peninsula storm information would be critical to our decision-making cells—these were the “real deal,” with the characteris- process. tic anvil shape, dark bottoms and snow-white tops at Even as I drove to Soldotna Forestry, and as the he- 30,000 feet. Storms like these always inspire a sense of litack ship was on its way to gather fire information, I awe in me as I have witnessed their power so many was already thinking about some of the known factors times in the western half of the United States. No, that would influence our decisions. The fire was likely these weren’t the monsters of eastern Colorado with in a Limited Suppression Zone which does not man- 50,000-foot tops, softball-sized hail, spin-off tornados date initial attack (as would a fire in a Full or Critical and microbursts that flatten mature forests. These Suppression Zones), but essentially allows a fire/land were a kinder, gentler variety. Here on the Kenai, manager to use an appropriate fire management strat- thunderstorms tend to be wet. On those few occasions egy from the full range of options—from a monitoring when lightning connects with the ground here, result- (no suppression) strategy to a full or total suppression ing fires tend to get “rained out.” On this day however, strategy, or something in between. The keys to this de- there were only a few showers—these were essentially cision process would be gathering good information, dry thunderstorms—a rarity on the Peninsula. making sound management decisions, and document- It was Thursday, June 28th, about 6:00 in the ing the reasons for those decisions. For example, if a evening. I was driving along K-Beach Road when I fire or land manager decides to suppress a fire thatis heard the radio traffic on a State Forestry frequency. in Limited, the Alaska Interagency Wildland Fire Man- One of Forestry’s engine patrols, while driving east on agement Plan requires the preparation of a Decision the Sterling Highway, spotted lightning strikes in the Criteria Record to document the rationale for the de- Mystery Hills—a few miles north of the highway. A cision. few moments later, a smoke column appeared in the Another known factor was the drought conditions same area. From the firefighter’s description of the we were experiencing on the Kenai Peninsula. We smoke column and its location, I knew the fire was on use the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System the Refuge. So I pointed my truck at the Division of (CFFDRS) here in Alaska to monitor fire weather and Forestry office, just as my cell phone began toring. fuel conditions. All of the CFFDRS indices including (NOTE: Under the Alaska Interagency Wildland Fire the Drought Code, the Fire Weather Index and the Management Plan, the Alaska Department of Natu- Build-up Index were at extreme fire danger levels at ral Resources—Division of Forestry has wildfire sup- all of the local weather stations on June 28. One of pression responsibility on National Wildlife Refuges the lessons we fire managers learned from the fires in Southcentral and Southwest Alaska.) at Yellowstone (1988) and Los Alamos, New Mexico Little did I expect at the time—that the nextten (2000), is that wildfires quickly become uncontrollable days of my life would be consumed, as the Refuge and during drought conditions. I was on one of those Yel- State Forestry joined forces to manage a wildfire in the lowstone fires (Clover/Mist) in 1988 and many other Mystery Hills. The phone call (as expected) was from large project fires in my career, and I know how diffi- Forestry, to notify me (the land manager) there was cult wildfires are to control—when forest fuels are im- a fire on the Refuge, and to find out how theRefuge pacted by drought. wanted to manage the fire. I said I would be there in A third factor to consider in deciding how best to ten minutes. In the meantime, we agreed that Forestry manage the Mystery Hills Fire, was the availability of should go ahead and launch their helicopter to fly over fire suppression resources. The Kenai Lake Fire had the fire and do a size-up: get a precise location; de- already drawn a number of Alaskan firefighting re- scribe the fire size, the rate of spread and fire behavior; sources including two Kenai Refuge fire engines, sev-

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 51 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 30 • August 10, 2001 eral hotshot crews and aircraft, and a Type-1 inci- til we could provide adequate escape routes and safety dent management team from the Lower 48. Many zones. That evening we would have to settle for anair other Alaskan crews and aircraft were committed to attack and the next day we would reassess the situa- the large fires in the Alaskan Interior. So even ifthe tion and develop a new plan of attack. decision was made to initial attack or suppress the Friday morning, because of our decision to sup- Mystery Hills Fire, there was no guarantee that the press the Mystery Hills Fire and because of the fire’s right types or numbers of firefighting resources would potential to exceed the capabilities of our local re- be available. sources, Ric and I completed what’s known in fire cir- A fourth factor was the approach of the holiday cles as a Awoofsah or WFSA, an acronym for Wildland week (Fourth of July) and the thousands of Refuge Fire Situation Analysis. A WFSA is a standardized tool visitors that would be traveling the Sterling High- used by fire managers nationwide to document criti- way, recreating in the Skilak Lake area and hiking cal information about a wildfire incident and to help or canoeing on Refuge trails. The prospect of evac- fire managers develop a management plan for the in- uating a neighborhood or a campground is daunting cident. A WFSA is a “living document” that is adjusted enough, but evacuating back-country recreationists is as new information is collected or to meet any new even more problematic because you don’t really know challenges as the incident changes. In hindsight, this where people are located. was an important exercise for me and for Ric, since By the time I ran the gauntlet through Soldotna it was our first “project fire” working together asfire construction and tourist traffic, and pulled into the management officers. parking lot at State Forestry, the helicopter crew While Ric and I completed the WFSA, the aerial was over the fire and sending size-up information to fire suppression efforts continued on the Mystery Hills Forestry dispatch. As it turned out, there were two Fire. The Thurman Creek Fire continued to be moni- fires burning in the Mystery Hills. The southern fire tored from the air; but its position, the surrounding (Mystery Hills) was about 2 miles north of the Sterling fuels, and its fire behavior were such that no suppres- Highway and 1.5 miles east of the Mystery Creek Road. sion efforts were deemed necessary at the time. An Ex- Downdrafts from the thunderstorms were pushing the tended Attack Incident Commander (ICT3) from State fire rapidly through black spruce to the south and Forestry in Palmer supervised the suppression efforts west. The northern fire (Thurman Creek) was several that day. By the end of the day, Mystery Hills had miles to the northeast, near the confluence of Thurman grown to about 600 acres and Thurman Creek covered Creek and the Chickaloon River. It was burning hotly about 10 acres. Because Mystery Hills continued to upslope to the east in mixed forest fuels. grow and the weather forecasts gave us little hope for When Ric Plate (the Fire Management Officer for a change, we decided to order a Type 2 Incident Man- the Kenai-Kodiak Area Office of the Alaska Division of agement Team to help us manage the Mystery Hills Forestry) and I got together, we laid all of the known fires. and collected information about the fires and their re- Fortunately for us, the Division of Forestry had al- spective environments out on the table, consulted with ready ordered a Type 2 Team to be pre-positioned or our superiors and then made the decision to initial at- staged in Anchorage. This saved us at least a couple tack the Mystery Hills Fire. Considering the factors of days in getting the incident management team to I’ve described above, I hope the reasons for that de- the Kenai Peninsula. As it turned out, this was the cision are fairly obvious. Additional considerations second of three fortuitous circumstances that allowed included: the large tracts of continuous black spruce us to bring the Mystery Hills Fire under control. The forests to the south and west; the fire’s proximity to first was the aerial retardant lines that were laid down the Sterling Highway, the Skilak Lake recreation area, on Thursday and Friday—in front of the advancing fire and powerlines; and the potential for the fire to get fronts on the south and west flanks. Ultimately, these very large in a short period of time if no suppression lines are what kept the fire from reaching the Sterling action was taken. Once the decision was made to sup- Highway and Mystery Creek Road. Alaska Division press the fire, additional air attack resources were im- of Forestry fire managers deserve a lot of credit for mediately ordered—including a second helicopter with pre-positioning a retardant ship in Homer these last a water bucket and a State air tanker. We also agreed two years and developing a retardant-loading site at that no ground forces would be sent into the fire un- the Kenai Airport this year.

52 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 30 • August 10, 2001

The third fortunate circumstance was the favor- fuel type dominates the drier upland ridges in the Mys- able weather change that occurred on July 4th. By tery Hills and throughout the western foothills of the the time the incident management team from Ore- Kenai Mountains. When the fire burned into the deca- gon/California (also known as theORCA team) was set dent remnant stands or stringers of beetle-killed white up and fully functional at the Sterling Elementary ICP spruce, it tended to go out on its own. These white (incident command post), the cooler/wetter weather spruce stands exist in the wetter sites found in the val- that is typical of July finally arrived. This allowed us ley bottoms and at higher elevations (about 1200 feet). to change our fire suppression tactics from a defensive In fact, at several locations within the fire perimeter indirect attack to an offensive direct attack. In other the fire clearly jumped across these wet stringers of words, we were able to safely send firefighters into the white spruce even with all that large dead woody ma- fire to construct handlines and direct attack thefire’s terial lying around, and burned the adjacent dry ridges edge. By Saturday Hotshot crews from Alaska and the of fifty-year-old black spruce. Northwest had the fire contained and well under con- There are at least two inferences we can derive trol. from this information: the black spruce woodlands Having flown over the fire a couple of times, af- regenerated by the 1947 Fire are once again capable ter walking completely around its perimeter, and af- of sustaining wildland fire, and wetlands—even those ter studying the satellite imagery provided by the Bor- dominated by old white spruce, can survive the effects ough’s Spruce Bark Beetle Office, I noticed a very in- of wildfire in some situations. teresting pattern—one that I think deserves our attention in the years ahead. The Mystery Hills Fire burned Doug Newbould is the Fire Management Officer at the same fuels and followed the same pattern as the the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. For more informa- 1947 Fire, which burned over 300,000 acres. The Mys- tion about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill tery Hills Fire burned most actively in the black spruce Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at woodlands which regenerated after the 1947 Fire. This http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 53 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 31 • August 17, 2001

Antlers, horns and their place in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge by Robin West

have antlers that look very similar to those of older cows. Antlers are grown and shed each year, whereas horns grow for the entire life of the animal. Moose, caribou, deer and elk have antlers. Sheep, goats, musk oxen and bison have horns. About half of the bull moose in their second year of life will have a spike or forked antler. The remainder of these yearling bulls will have small palmated antlers. Antlers, even though shed each year, generally are grown back larger each subsequent year for several years. This may change if an animal lives to beold, and often the antlers of very old animals are smaller than when they were in their prime. boy with moose antlers Since horns continue to grow throughout the life of the animals that have them, the horns will get larger each year of life, unless broken off. Most growth, how- Biologists, wildlife watchers, and hunters have ever, occurs within the first four or five years of life always been fascinated with the antlers or horns and then annual increase diminishes. that various wild animals possess. At this time of year, when many folks are out looking for a “spike- A legal Dall sheep must have a full-curl (360 de- fork/fifty” moose, it seems like a good time to discuss grees) horn, and this amount of growth will generally this topic. occur between age six and eight, although some rams “Spike-fork/fifty,” of course, refers to the regula- never attain a full-curl horn. Sheep that are eight years tion about what a bull moose must have in the way of or older, as aged by their annual growth rings, or with antlers to be legal game. Specifically, the antlers of the broken horns, are also legal game. Ewe sheep have male (only male moose have antlers) must have at least horns as well, but they never grow very large. Like one of the two antlers with only one or two points, or with caribou, it is easy to mistake a yearling male ram else the distance between both antlers at the widest for an adult female sheep if you only look at what is distance is at least 50 inches. growing on their heads. Bull moose with at least three brow tines on an The various horn/antler size and configurations antler are also considered legal. Given the difficulty provide good tools for game managers to provide that can arise in estimating a 50-inch spread on a hunting opportunity while protecting wildlife popu- moose under hunting conditions, the conservative ap- lations from overharvest. For example, the “spike- proach in determining legality of larger bulls has given fork/fifty” moose regulation allows for large numbers rise to the saying, “Count to three or leave it be.” of hunters to participate in a long hunting season Excellent advice to all hunters, of course, is to al- while assuring that a significant number of bull moose ways be sure of your target, the safety of the shot, the will remain after the season to breed. Other ways legality of the animal, and the surety of your ability to to manage game, when faced with large numbers of make a humane kill before deciding to pull the trigger hunters, are to have much shorter seasons or a limited or release the arrow. number of hunting permits. Unlike moose, both male and female caribou have Antlers and horns are believed to serve primarily antlers. Old caribou males have much larger antlers as a show of dominance for breeding males. Older bull than females of any age, but yearling bulls frequently moose and caribou tend to shed their antlers in the late

54 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 31 • August 17, 2001 fall, while younger animals often carry theirs into the of the regulations that recognizes the ecological value early spring. Within weeks of the shed antler coming that bones and shed antlers provide to critters such as off, a new velvety knob will appear, and antler growth voles, squirrels and porcupines, as well as the discov- will be rapid during the periods of lush vegetation in ery value to visitors who stumble across an old moss- spring and summer. Around the first of September, the covered antler overgrown with wildflowers, and the velvet will harden and will be scraped from the antler value to individuals who take an antler home and dis- by rubbing on brush and small trees. play it on their mantle or make a belt buckle or knife Looking for shed antlers in the spring is a hobby handle for a special gift for a friend or family member. shared by many Alaskans. The “sheds” make great The fragile ebony horns of a mountain goat, the curiosity pieces and are good raw material for a rugged amber-colored horns of an old Dall ram, the whole host of wonderful crafts. General national polished mahogany of the majestic bull moose, all de- wildlife refuge regulations (applying to all refuges in fine a great deal of what these creatures are, how they the United States) do not provide for the removal of live and how they are viewed by people. Horns and antlers, bones, horns and other natural items without antlers, whether attached to living animals, as part a permit. of a cherished trophy, or discovered among bleached However, as long as collection is for limited per- bones or as a shed atop the tundra, all contribute to the sonal use and not for commercial purposes, we have many treasures of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. used our discretion to allow shed collecting here at the Kenai refuge. Our logic has been that since we allow Robin West is the manager of the Kenai National the hunting of these animals (and the removal of the Wildlife Refuge. For more information about the Refuge, entire beast—hide, hoof, horn and all), we will allow visit the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, the limited removal of their parts that may be found. call 262-7021 or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/ This is an attempt at a reasonable interpretation refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 55 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 32 • August 24, 2001

Season brings memories of family hunts along Yukon River by Mimi Thomas

Hunting season is in full swing, and fall is draw- choice, for I know I haven’t regretted it. ing near. I grew up in a small town in Alaska along the It’s always puzzled me why so few hunters utilize Yukon River, and this was always my favorite time of the meat on the head or some of the organs of big the year. The Yukon is a water highway to residents game animals. Probably some of the best parts of a of the area and an important fish and wildlife habitat moose are the heart and kidneys. A popular Yukon to numerous species. River recipe is to fry the kidneys up the morning af- Hunting along the Yukon River is more than a fa- ter the hunt with some moose fat and serve them with vorite activity; it is a way of life. By this time of year, pancakes. the family would be preparing to journey by river for Other parts of the moose I seldom see used on the the annual hunt, usually in search of a moose or two Kenai Peninsula are the parts of the head. The meat depending on how many of us had harvest tickets. and the marrow of the jaw bone are a favorite, not to Being unofficially excused from school for the first mention the moose nose. Some along the Yukon say week or so always added to the excitement. Something the nose is the best part of the moose. I’ve always remembered my uncle saying to us as we One of the similarities between respected hunters sat around a campfire is that “people pay millions todo along the Yukon River and those on the Kenai Penin- this.” I believed him because it was such a good time, sula is how they take care of their animal after the kill. and each year’s traditional hunt seemed priceless to us One of the most important aspects of wildlife conser- all. vation in Alaska is the proper salvaging and utiliza- My father was the oldest of six brothers, all of tion of edible meat from big game animals and other whom grew up in rural Alaska. Their home site was wildlife. In many ways, modern wildlife regulations located at the fork of the Grayling River. They grew reflect the traditional importance of game meat sal- up in “the woods” learning how to live off the land, in- vage. cluding hunting and fishing for food and trapping in Along the Yukon, like other places in Alaska, there the winters. Although the brothers live in other places is no greater “hunting sin” than leaving a whole ani- now, the Grayling River home site is like an annual mal to waste after shooting it. In fact, most game meat magnet and a reunion destination for all the family to waste cases are successfully prosecuted due to timely gather during the hunting season. reports by other hunters who either witnessed the in- These early outdoor experiences greatly influ- cident or have information to report. Hunters who enced my understanding of and reverence for the otherwise would have little contact with law enforce- land and Alaska’s wildlife. In part, these experiences ment make an exception to report the waste of game are the reason I’ve become a game warden, choosing meat. Although many times we find the kill too late wildlife protection as a career. Having lived in rural to salvage the meat, a successfully prosecuted waste Alaska, where hunting is a way of life, I’ve learned a case serves as an important deterrent to such abuses few inside tricks that have given me a better perspec- by hunters. tive on the local mind-set. I believe this has made me Many times big game animals are wasted due to a better officer. lack of knowledge or preparation regarding transport- My family has always given me a hard time, saying ing such a large amount of meat from a remote site. things like “you became a game warden just to turn us Other times, hunters may be too quick to judge an all in; we see how you are.” They all have taken their antler size or configuration, only to find they have shot best shot at me regarding my line of work. It’s been an illegal animal. said that I can no longer go on these hunts, implying Hunters should remember that fellow hunters and that I wouldn’t like what I see. perhaps the magistrate may judge them less harshly These statements are usually followed with a wink for admitting a mistake and taking steps to salvage the and a smile. I know that deep down they respect my edible meat for donation to charitable organizations,

56 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 32 • August 24, 2001 allowing people that need the food to utilize it. The gram, including game violations. The Crime Stopper’s best advice however, is DON’T SHOOT unless you’re telephone line is answered 24 hours a day, seven days absolutely sure that you have a legal animal. a week. It is unrecorded and callers who wish to re- Leaving a dirty camp is also a practice that is main anonymous are not asked or required to identify frowned upon by hunters along the Yukon, and in our themselves. The telephone number to call is (907) 283- family hunting circle, this was not respected or toler- 8477 or toll free anywhere in Alaska at 1-800-478-4258. ated. Littering Alaska’s public lands is like your neigh- Have fun on your hunt. And be safe. bor littering your back yard. Who wants to begin a hunt or other activity by picking up trash after some- Mimi Thomas is a law enforcement officer onthe one else? Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. For more information I am the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge’s repre- about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill sentative for the Kenai Peninsula Crime Stopper’s pro- Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at gram. All law violations can be reported to the pro- http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 57 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 33 • September 7, 2001

What are all those plastic-covered piles along Funny River Road? by Doug Newbould

Even though we live in the so-called Information The piles created this summer (Mile 5 to Mile6) Age, and you can send or receive just about any infor- will cure over the winter and be burned next spring or mation you want—around the globe, just by depress- fall, depending on weather and fuel conditions. ing a few keys on a computer keyboard—I am amazed The refuge has had a lot of help with the fuelbreak at how poorly we humans communicate sometimes. these past three years. The Kenai fire crew has assisted The Funny River Road fuel reduction project is acase us on numerous occasions, including about one mile in point. of clearing this summer. They did a great job, too. The fire management staff at the Kenai National The Alaska Military Youth Academy brought acrew Wildlife Refuge began work on the Funny River Road of young men down from Anchorage last year to help fuelbreak in the spring of 1998. The goals of the project us for a few days. Also, refuge YCC (Youth Conser- are threefold: 1) to reduce hazardous fuel loadings vation Corps) crews and SCA (Student Conservation (beetle-killed white spruce and black spruce) in the Association) volunteers have been a big help to us. wildland-urban interface, between the wildlands of In fact, the Funny River project has provided an the refuge and private lands along the Kenai River; 2) excellent training ground for many young people and to improve the effectiveness of Funny River Road as firefighters alike, as we use the cutting/piling/burning a public access/egress route in the event of a wildfire; activities to practice chain saw, hand tool and fire and, 3) to maintain the visual quality values of the for- safety. We have also used the project as an example est in the treated area. of the FireWise Community Action Program. To accomplish these goals, we first cut the dead You might think that with all this activity along and beetle-infested trees. We next thin the live healthy Funny River Road these past few years—after several spruce to roughly a 20-by-20-foot spacing. Finally, we news releases, radio interviews and newspaper arti- prune or limb-up the remaining live spruce. Hard- cles, and after talking with dozens of people about the wood (deciduous) trees and shrubs are left uncut to project on the phone and in person—you might think provide a seed source for natural regeneration and to that folks in the Soldotna area would know what we’re maintain the forested appearance of the project area. doing by now. But that is simply not the case. We pile useable firewood for removal by area res- We frequently get calls or visitors asking us what idents (free of charge—no permit required). All of the the plastic-coated humps along Funny River Road are slash is piled and covered with plastic for later burn- for all the time. I can understand the summer visi- ing. (We do not burn the plastic; we pull the covers off tors not knowing, but I’m truly surprised when resi- the piles prior to burning and re-use covers on other dents are still in the dark about the project. Usually, piles.) the word-of-mouth communications fill in the blank The project area is a 150- to 200-foot strip offor- spaces left by my so-called media campaign. est along the south (refuge) side of Funny River Road, I guess that communicating effectively, even in from Mile 3.0 to Mile 9.6. The cutting phase of the this day and age, requires a lot more person-to-person project is nearly complete, after this summer’s work, explaining. I’m OK with that, if that is what it takes. so all that remains is to burn the piles. Perhaps we need a talking “Smokey the Bear” out We have burned piles every year since the project along Funny River Road. Or at least a few signs. began, except last year, when our firefighters went Doug Newbould is the fire management officer at south to fight fires in the western United States. Later the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. For more infor- this month, weather-permitting, we plan to continue mation about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski burning slash piles between Mile 3 and Mile 4. Those Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at piles are cured and ready to burn. http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

58 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 34 • September 14, 2001

Humble peat mosses store global carbon, show amazing variety by Ed Berg

This is a story about some little plants witha all carbon stored in land plants and soils is in peat de- big role. The plants in question are the humble peat posits. Much of the other 75 percent is in trees, but as mosses, collectively known as Sphagnum moss. I said, the tree carbon returns to the atmosphere much Gardeners apply “fossil” peat moss to improve faster than peat moss carbon. Since most wetlands in soil water-holding capacity. Indigenous people of the the North either are or will become peat wetlands, one North have diapered their babies with dry Sphagnum good reason for preserving wetlands is to keep them moss as long as babies have been diapered. Sphagnum as carbon sinks to help retard global warming. was used as a wound dressing up through the First On the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, we have World War, because an ounce of dry Sphagnum can thousands of acres of Sphagnum peat wetlands (gen- hold a pint of blood. Backcountry hikers, too, have erally called “muskegs,” but more properly described long considered Sphagnum the TP of choice for its soft- as bogs and fens). ness and absorbent qualities. I recently had a delightful opportunity to get a Sphagnum in the form of dry peat is the first step close look at the Sphagnum mosses while squiring sev- toward coal. Over millions of years, the application of eral of the top Sphagnum experts (called “sphagnolo- pressure and modest heat converts peat to brown coal gists”) around the Kenai: Prof. Kjell Ivar Flatberg and (lignite), then to soft (bituminous) coal, and finally to his doctoral student Karen Finthingsgaard, from the hard (anthracite) coal. University of Trondheim in Norway, and Prof. Richard On the scale of years and decades, peat bogs are a Andrus, of the State University of New York. potential ally in the Great Carbon War now under way. There are up to 300 species of Sphagnum world- As modern society continues to burn fossil fuels (the wide, and they are tough to tell apart. Most botanists solid forms of which are derived from peat) and pump just call them “Sphagnum” and let it go at that. I al- more carbon into the atmosphere, some of this carbon ways figured we might have a half dozen species on is retrieved by living plants through photosynthesis. the Kenai, so I was amazed to see these experts find 27 The recent reforestation of eastern North America, species in the first muskeg that we visited, near Turna- for example, is helping to reduce some of the human- gain Pass. During the next three days, we found many generated atmospheric carbon and its contribution to more species, and they taught me to identify perhaps global warming. Unfortunately, trees are only a tem- a dozen common species by sight (without a micro- porary carbon sink; when trees decay or burn, they scope). surrender their carbon back to the atmosphere. We all collected many bags of samples, and I ex- Peat bogs, on the other hand, are more stingy pect to spend some interesting weekends over the win- and are much better long-term carbon sinks than are ter identifying them. It appears likely that we picked forests. About 10 percent of the carbon fixed in a peat up at least one new species, from the muskeg south of bog is permanently retained as accumulating peat de- Headquarters Lake, and possibly a second new species posits. During a growing season, Sphagnum moss in from a muskeg along Swan Lake Road. a bog typically grows 4 inches (and as much as 16 The wetlands of the Kenai are beautiful open inches), but snow flattens it down over the winter, spaces, and they can be explored with only a pair with a net peat accumulation of about 1 millimeter of rubber boots. They have their own special plants, (1/25 inch). As the peat accumulates and is flattened by many with beautiful flowers, as well as those, such as the weight of overlying layers, it is compressed to the the Sphagnum mosses, which only reveal their beauty point that an inch of dry peat moss represents about and diversity to visitors with patience and a good hand 80 years of bog growth. lens. On a global scale, it is estimated that 25 percent of Ed Berg has been the ecologist at the Kenai Na-

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 59 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 34 • September 14, 2001 tional Wildlife Refuge since 1993. Further information good pictures. For more information about the Refuge, on Sphagnum can be found at http://members.nbci.com/ visit the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, temsch/index.html, and in C. B. McQueen’s “Field Guide call 262-7021 or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/ to the Peat Mosses of Boreal North America,” which has refuge/kenai/.

60 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 35 • September 21, 2001

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge concept born during 1897 hunt by Gary Titus

were no game regulations whatsoever in the Territory of Alaska, and wildlife could be openly bought and sold by anyone. Local Alaska hunters started market hunting by killing moose and caribou for their heads and selling them at good prices for shipment to San Francisco and other points. Upon DeWeese’s return in the fall of 1898, after an absence of only one year, he was surprised to see a marked decrease in game populations. On his southbound trip, he stopped in Sitka and voiced his concerns to the editor of the Alaskan Sitka newspaper. The next day the paper’s headline read, “ALASKAN GAME DOOMED. DALL DE WEESE THE GREAT HUNTER TELLS THE REASON.” In this article, DeWeese made a plea for game preservation in the form of hunting laws Dall DeWeese, 1897 and established game preserves. Another big game hunter, Harry E. Lee, traveled Most of us at some time or another have enjoyed north in the fall of 1899 to hunt the Kenai Peninsula. recreational activities on the Kenai National Wildlife Lee had a good hunt, yet he saw problems develop- Refuge, be it hunting, fishing, hiking or snowmachining with the lack of game laws. In a magazine article ing, to name a few. Some of us might know that the Lee wrote: “I would like to suggest that the American refuge was originally established as the Kenai National sportsmen should by all means try to secure this tract Moose Range, by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941. of land from the Government as a game preserve, and But how many readers are aware that the Kenai refuge I hope someone will take the matter in hand before an- concept had its beginnings as early as 1897? other year, for the game is wantonly killed by market It all started when a wealthy big game hunter from hunters every winter, and if this is not soon put a stop Canon City, Colo., traveled to Alaska, checking out ru- to, it will be entirely exterminated.” mors of giant moose on the Kenai Peninsula. Arriving This call for preserving the Kenai Peninsula wild in Cook Inlet, Dall DeWeese was told he would be for- game was taken up by many subsequent visiting tunate to find a hunter by the name of Andrew Berg to sportsmen. guide him. Dall DeWeese returned to hunt in Alaska again DeWeese found Berg at a Kasilof cannery and se- in 1899 and 1901, and he continued his call for cured his services. The hunt, in the Tustumena Lake wildlife preservation. In a letter to the new presi- region, was successful, with several trophy moose dent, Theodore Roosevelt, in December of 1901, De- taken and the peninsula stamped indelibly on De- Weese wrote: “This is a subject that appeals to every Weese’s mind. On the steamboat journey home De- ‘true-blue sportsman,’ every lover of animal life, and Weese was already planning his next hunt here. all those who see beauty in nature, embracing forests, Word spread of a new territory with giant moose plains, and mountains throughout our entire country, and white sheep, and many hunters laid plans for the and while the woods, plains, and mountains are natu- season of 1898. For those lacking the time and finan- rally beautiful, we all agree that they are much more cial wherewithal for an Alaska hunt, other means of grand and lifelike when the wild animals and birds are acquiring trophies were available. At that time, there present. There are now several organizations doing

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 61 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 35 • September 21, 2001 work toward the preservation of wild animal and bird size, the Chugach National Forest extended from the life. There is much yet for us to do; to resolve is toact. Copper River on the east to Cook Inlet on the west, Let us be up and at it.” to Kachemak Bay on the south, and included all the Someone must have been listening, because Teddy Chugach Mountains to the north. Roosevelt’s new Forestry chief, Gifford Pinchot, sent Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, hunters and con- a young forester named William A. Langille to make servationists continued to press Congress to designate a reconnaissance of the Kenai Peninsula in 1904. part of this land specifically as a wildlife preserve, Langille traversed the peninsula from Seward to Sel- without logging, mining and other forms of develop- dovia, and during this trip he realized the unique value ment. Congress finally recognized these voices, and a of the land as a wildlife and hunting preserve. second President Roosevelt—FDR—signed the enabling In his 1904 report, Langille expressed the opinion legislation for the Kenai National Moose Range on that on the peninsula, “there is room for the frontier Dec. 16, 1941, just nine days after Pearl Harbor. settler and fishermen on the shore land; there letthem In December 1980, the moose range was renamed abide in peace and prosper, but keep out the fire and the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, and its purposes wanton game destroyers.” were expanded to include all wildlife species. Langille further recommended that certain por- tions of the proposed Kenai Forest Reserve be specif- We owe a great vote of thanks to the early hunters ically designated as game preserves for perpetuating and conservationists such as Dall DeWeese, Harry Lee the game species of the region. He recommended that and William Langille, as well as their successors, who Sheep Creek at the head of Kachemak Bay be set aside worked for so many years to protect the refuge lands for Dall sheep, and that the Caribou Hills be set aside that we all enjoy today. On Sept. 29 we will recognize for moose and the few remaining caribou. (In 1909 this history at our 60th birthday celebration. Festiv- Langille headed up the new Alexander Archipelago ities will occur from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the refuge Forest Reserve, which became today’s Tongass Na- headquarters on Ski Hill Road, and everyone is invited. tional Forest. Many historians regard William Langille Gary Titus is the wilderness ranger and historian as the father of forestry in Alaska.) at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. For more infor- Following Langille’s recommendations, the mation about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Chugach National Forest was designated on July 23, Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at 1907, with further additions in 1909. At its maximum http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

62 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 36 • September 28, 2001

Kenai National Wildlife Refuge celebrates 60th birthday by Bill Kent

Saturday we will be hosting a birthday party. Sixty • There will also be displays from Marathon Oil years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an Ex- Co. and Unocal relating history of the oil fields ecutive Order establishing the Kenai National Moose on the refuge and what the future improvements Range. President Roosevelt signed the order on Dec. will entail. 16, just nine days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This has always been a source of amazement andsome We hope that you will come and celebrate with us pride to me, because he must have thought that pro- and take a few minutes to reflect on the similarities be- viding protection of the natural resources in Alaska tween now and 60 years ago. As I mentioned at the be- warranted taking action, even though the nation was ginning of this article, President Roosevelt signed the about to begin a prolonged period of war. Executive Order just nine days after the attack on Pearl Our celebration will take place at the refuge head- Harbor. With all that must have been on his mind, he quarters/visitor center on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna. took time to provide protection for what is now the Activities will begin at 11 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. Food Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. and music will be provided, and the Anchorage Bird When he acted, he added to the fledgling National Treatment and Learning Center will be on hand with Wildlife Refuge System some 2 million acres of rel- its impressive raptors, including a golden eagle. A bar- atively undisturbed habitat for a variety of Alaska bershop quartet, “4 on the Richter Scale,” will perform species, especially for the purpose of “protecting the at 12:30. natural breeding and feeding range of the giant Kenai Scheduled activities include: moose on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, which in this area presents a unique wildlife feature and an unusual • A pictorial history of Kenai NWR that depicts opportunity for the study in its natural environment different activities through the years; of the practical management of a big game species that has considerable local economic value …” • Biology displays of studies conducted over the I am proud of what the Kenai refuge provides to last 60 years on eagles, swans, moose, wolves, the citizens of the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska and the caribou, and spruce bark beetles; United States. The National Wildlife Refuge system is a unique system with nothing else in the world to • A montage of aerial photos showing the changes compare. No other nation has provided for wildlife in vegetation and glaciers; and habitats the way America has. • Fire equipment changes over the years; During these times of reflection on what America means to each of us, I hope you will give some thought • Activities of the Kenai Fisheries Resources Of- to the foresight of President Roosevelt and the gift that fice through the years; he provided for every American. See you Saturday. • Former employees and local citizens will relate Bill Kent has been the supervisory park ranger at their memories of the refuge; Kenai refuge since 1991. He lives in Sterling with his • Kids activities from 60 years ago, with a “critter preschool teacher wife, Lisa, SoHi student daughter, Ri- twist;” ley, and an exchange student, Na, from Thailand. For more information about the Refuge, visit the headquar- • The reconstructed Andrew Berg cabin from the ters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the Tustumena Lake area. website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 63 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 37 • October 5, 2001

Conservation pledge gives greater meaning to wilderness by Doug Newbould

of the Rockies. I can still smell that river and hear its song. I can still see the lush meadows of Estes Park ringed with a halo of shimmering gold—the quakies which seemed to endlessly tremble of their own voli- tion. I can still feel the sense of awe and smallness I felt looking west across that beautiful landscape, nestled beneath the high peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park. I remember reading issues of Boy’s Life magazine, and thrilling at the advertisements that beckoned me to “Be a Conservationist.” By the time I reached high school, living on the Piedmont of North Carolina, I knew without a doubt what I wanted to be and where I wanted to live. I was going to be a forester, and I was going to live in the Rocky Mountain West. Colorado seemed the likely place to start, so I en- rolled in the College of Forestry and Natural Resources at Colorado State University. The rest, as they say, is history. The past 25 years have found me working on three national forests in Wyoming, Colorado and Alaska, and now on one of the true jewels of the national wildlife refuge system—the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Whether fate, choice or a combination of both, I don’t know, but I can truly say I feel blessed to have lived and worked in some of the most I’m not sure when or how it happened, if there beautiful places on earth, alongside some of the finest was a seminal moment in my life, or maybe it was a people one could ever know. learning process that occurred over a period of years, One of the hobbies I have loosely adopted during or perhaps it was my destiny. But somewhere along my career as a forester and wildland firefighter, is the the trail of my childhood, I decided I loved nature. I collection of Smokey Bear memorabilia. My favorite loved being outdoors—escaping the confines of four piece is a 20-year-old, 8 1/2-by-11 Smokey poster en- walls (any four walls) and heading out “into the great titled, “Conservation Pledge.” The first time I laid eyes wide-open,” as the Tom Petty song goes. on that poster, I knew it perfectly described my boy- You know how it feels when you step through a hood pursuit and my passion as a public servant—to doorway into the fresh air, and you naturally take a be a conservationist. deep breath, and then there’s the soft sigh of satisfac- The Conservation Pledge states, “I give my pledge tion? I find myself doing that all the time. as an American to save and faithfully defend from I’m not sure if it happened as a 3-year-old, when waste the natural resources of my country—its soil and my parents pulled up the family roots out of that deep, minerals, its forests, waters and wildlife.”I can imagine rich, black Illinois loam and moved to Colorado. Or if that many of you who read the Refuge Notebook col- it happened at the age of 8, when in search of work, umn every Friday, have taken this pledge. Maybe you Dad moved us back to southern Illinois. have not said those words, but you have lived them. Perhaps it was the great sense of loss I felt then— I met many such Americans at the Kenai refuge’s leaving a cabin on the Big Thompson River in the heart 60th birthday celebration last Saturday, people who

64 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 37 • October 5, 2001 care deeply about public lands and natural resources, Bird Treatment & Learning Center, Marathon Oil, Un- people who also want their children and grandchildren ocal Alaska, “Four on the Richter Scale,” all the U.S. to enjoy the great wide-open. I know I can speak for all Fish & Wildlife Service employees who drove down the wonderful employees of the Kenai NWR in saying, from Anchorage to be with us—especially the four “Thank You” to all who have worked and supported “judges” and Cathy Rezabeck, and the staffs and volun- and enjoyed the refuge for the past 60 years. teers of the Kenai Fishery Resources Office and Kenai Thanks to all of you who joined us on Saturday. NWR. And we give a special thanks to all those who Doug Newbould is the fire management officer at helped us make the 60th birthday celebration a suc- the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. For more infor- cess: the “Refuge Memories” of Cal Fair, Jim Fisher, mation about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Bob Ritchey and Will Troyer, the Friends of the Ke- Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at nai NWR, the Alaska Natural History Association, the http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 65 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 38 • October 12, 2001

Disappearing kettle ponds reveal a drying Kenai Peninsula by Ed Berg

A typical transect starts at the forest edge, passes through a grass (Calamagrostis) zone, into Sphagnum peat moss, and then into wet sedges, sometimes with pools of standing water, and then back through these same zones on the other side of the kettle. Three of the four kettles we surveyed this summer were quite wet in the middle (especially after the July rains), and we had to wear hip boots. These plots can be resurveyed in future decades and, if I am correct, they will show a succession of drier and drier plants as the water table drops lower and lower, due to warmer summers and increased evap- Photo of a kettle pond by the National Park Service. otranspiration. If I am wrong, and the climate trend turns around toward cooler and wetter, these plots will When the glaciers left the Soldotna-Sterling area be under water again, as they were on the old aerial some 14,000 years ago, the glacier fronts didn’t re- photos. cede smoothly like their modern descendants, such as By far the most striking feature that we have Portage or Skilak glaciers. observed in the kettles is a band of young spruce Rather, the flat-lying ice sheets broke up into nu- seedlings popping up in the grass zones. These merous blocks, which became partially buried in hilly seedlings can form a halo around the perimeter of a moraines and flat outwash plains. In time these gi- kettle. In a large kettle along the Funny River horse ant ice cubes melted and formed the hundreds of trail, we mapped the exact locations of 969 black and lakes, ponds and shallow depressions of today’s Kenai white spruce seedlings in the grass zones of the tran- lowland. Geologists call this pitted landscape “kettle sect. moraine” topography, and prime examples can be seen Seedling densities ran as high as 18 seedlings per along Mackey Lake Road and along the Swanson River square meter. The seedlings were mostly less than 1 and Swan Lake roads on the Kenai National Wildlife foot tall, and were several years old. They probably Refuge. represent a drop in the water table of several inches I am trying to use the small kettle holes as barom- since the mid-1990s. eters of global warming on the Kenai. I can see on the It would be nice to have some water level record- 1950 aerial photographs that many of the kettle small ing gauges in these kettles to observe seasonal water ponds are grassy pans today. Indeed, many kettles still fluctuations, but woody plants like spruce and birch had ponds on the 1975 air photos, and some even on may be more dependable gauges in the long run. For the 1996 photos. It appears that the rate of drying is example, July was a wet month, with rainfall being 45 accelerating, especially in the 1990s. percent above normal. In some kettles we could see In order to track this drying process, my vegeta- sundew plants growing 6 inches under water. Sun- tion crew and I started this summer to establish perma- dews don’t like this. They normally grow on moss nent survey plots in typical kettle holes on the refuge. hummocks several inches above the water, and this We use a 5-meter-wide (16-foot) belt transect which temporary flooding may damage or kill them. runs from one side of the kettle to the other, gener- Many tree species, however, can tolerate a few ally 100- or 200-meters long. We describe the vegeta- weeks of flooding with no problem, although they gen- tion zones along the transect and collect all the plant erally can’t tolerate submergence for more than the species for identification and permanent voucher spec- entire growing season. imens. This last point leads me to an important obser-

66 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 38 • October 12, 2001 vation about many climate-related processes on the Nevertheless, they are alive, and you see only a Kenai Peninsula. I call this “the observation of uni- few dead ones. This, too, is unidirectional change, and directional (or one-way) change.” The local glaciers I think that it represents a steady decade-scale drying are an excellent example: Kachemak Bay’s Grewingk of the muskegs. Glacier has pulled back steadily from its 1858 terminal People sometimes object to my claim that the Ke- moraine by about two miles. It has never re-advanced nai muskegs are drying out. “Isn’t this just a natural in this period. process of succession?” they ask. “Shouldn’t we ex- Similarly, as you approach spruce treeline in the pect lakes and wetlands to be constantly filling in with Kenai Mountains, the trees become younger and vegetation and soil, and ultimately becoming grassy younger. Treeline is rising, and seedlings can estab- meadows or forests, regardless of climate change?” lish in places where it was too cold 100 or even 50 years My answer is that muskegs on the Kenai have been ago. Furthermore, you don’t see any cohorts of dead available for 14,000 years since deglaciation. Why is trees near treeline, which would indicate that a cold the spruce moving in today, and not yesterday? If period pushed treeline back down at some point. muskegs had been recruiting trees over the last 300 Likewise, of the hundreds of seedlings that we years, we would see old trees (dead or alive) out in the mapped in four kettles this summer, we saw very few muskegs. But we don’t see them out there, and that is dead ones. The seedlings were all doing real well and why I argue that something new is happening. We’re had never been knocked back by flooding. On a larger drying out, and it is a one-way process, at least for scale, if you hike through the peninsula muskegs, you now. will see small stunted black spruce trees two to three Ed Berg has been the ecologist at the Kenai Na- feet high. tional Wildlife Refuge since 1993. For more informa- These runt trees are usually 20 to 40 years old with tion about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill very tight annual rings, indicating that they are grow- Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at ing on the very edge of their water tolerance. http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 67 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 39 • October 19, 2001

Waterfowl hunting evokes early memories, creates new ones by Rick Johnston

It is difficult to express in words the thrill of hid- terfowl staging and feeding area, although somewhat ing in a thicket of riverside grass as 100 mallards cir- diminished by subsidence after the 1964 earthquake. cle warily overhead. That a grown man can be trans- The importance of the Chickaloon and other refuge ported in an instant back 40 years in time and 2,000 areas was recognized in 1980, when the Kenai Moose miles south to an Illinois cornfield to a first hunt isal- Range was renamed as the Kenai National Wildlife most otherworldly. But such is the magic of waterfowl Refuge, and its purposes were broadened to include hunting. conservation of fish and wildlife populations and habi- The smells of my grandfather’s leather hunting tats in their natural diversity, including waterfowl. jacket and the rich Illinois loam were as real on that Many refuges within the national wildlife refuge November morning in 1999 as they were in 1959. The system, such as Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin and “whoosh” sound of 100 pairs of wings is a sound and Yukon Delta in Alaska, were established primarily as experience like none other and blends in my mind and resting and feeding habitat for migratory ducks and spirit with all the truly special moments of my lifetime. geese. To non-Alaskans, the national wildlife refuge I recall being head down in another Illinois field system, whose symbol is the “Blue Goose,” is proba- some years after that first hunt; there were at least bly more widely recognized for waterfowl than for big 10,000 ducks, mostly mallards circling overhead. I game, fish or other wildlife. never fired a shot that evening, but it remains mybest Good duck and goose hunting opportunities can duck hunt of all. The vibration of those thousands of be found at several locations on the Kenai refuge. Sev- wings was like being at the center of a tornado. eral species of ducks nest on refuge lakes and marshes, On the Kenai Peninsula, the annual waterfowl mi- and an early season refuge hunt can be rewarding and gration and hunting is much less a part of the popular include a wide variety of species. One late September culture than is big game hunting. But even so, I see morning at the outlet of Skilak Lake, two of us had many young hunters experiencing similar very special a limit of ducks comprised of seven species, mostly mornings in the company of a parent, friend or grand- young birds of local nesting origin. father. The Skilak Lake outlet is always a great place for By definition, waterfowling is always more about wildlife observations, even when the duck hunting is the experience than the harvest. This can be partic- only so-so. One November day several years ago, I ularly true at many fickle Kenai Peninsula waterfowl watched a goldeneye drake roll and tumble to the wa- hunting areas. Yet year after year, I find the same water from 30 yards in the air to elude a pursuing falcon. terfowl devotees on Opening Day at the Kenai River It was an incredible site. Skilak outlet is also a good flats, at Skilak outlet in late November, or hopelessly place to see trumpeter swans, loons and other water- stuck in a Mystery Creek Road mud hole, all in pur- fowl feeding and resting before their journey south, suit of ducks and geese. And it’s common for them to not to mention an occasional brown bear or river ot- have a wide-eyed youngster like me in tow. The Kenai ter. National Wildlife Refuge has long been known for its In many ways, hunting on the peninsula is more resident wildlife, and it was concern for the habitat of about timing than location. Hunting in Alaska and the peninsula moose that led to the establishment of Canada is far different from hunting farther down the the Kenai National Moose Range in 1941. Somewhat flyway, where entire subcontinental populations of less known, but equally important, is the refuge’s con- ducks and geese are concentrated along single river tribution as a nesting and resting place for migratory valleys. Migratory waterfowl populations coalesce waterfowl. into a great river system with many northern tribu- The Chickaloon estuary remains an important wa- taries feeding into increasingly bigger streams and fi-

68 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 39 • October 19, 2001 nally into a bigger river. Coast black duck. Their wariness can render calling In the old days, waterfowlers would refer to a huge and other tried-and-true methods totally useless. concentration of ducks and geese moving through an A well-known Kenai River guide used to put his area as “A Grand Passage.” I observed “A Grand Pas- ordinary decoys and blind in one location, then move sage” once in eastern Illinois. I must have seen a half several hundred yards away and put out a single near- million ducks fly over in a single day. Such a site is perfect decoy. He would then hunker down in the low never to be forgotten, nor easily repeated. natural vegetation by his lone decoy. The “educated” Here on the peninsula, we are relatively close to flocks of mallards would pass up his primary decoy the source, and we see only small flocks staging for spread and land (fatally) in the near distance by his the migration south. gem decoy. In mid- to late September, it is not uncommon to A successful hunt on the Kenai generally requires see 10,000 to 20,000 pintails and mallards feeding in the an early start, using decoys and building a good blind, tidal guts of Chickaloon Bay, most of which are gone as well as planning for tidal changes that can send by mid-October. Concentrations of 30,000 ducks or flocks of ducks closer to decoy spreads. Good hunt- geese at Chickaloon are rare and occur only when very ing can often be found when a cold snap freezes many bad weather at Portage and Turnagain Arm briefly of the lowland water bodies and leaves open water on blocks migrating groups passing over the Kenai Penin- the larger lakes and the Kenai River. A few ducks per sula. lake displaced after freeze-up can amount to hundreds One day, a large group of Canada geese was flying concentrated in ice-free areas. These open-water areas over. My small daughter asked me which direction can be good hunting through late November. they were going, to which I replied, “northeast.” She Although refuge duck hunters of recent years have further inquired why the geese weren’t flying south been well-informed about migratory waterfowl hunt- like they’re supposed to do. In fact, it’s rare to see ing regulations, it never hurts to re-read the migra- flocks of ducks or geese flying south over the penin- tory bird regulations, shooting hours and refuge access sula. It seems that here, most migrating waterfowl regulations. Common violations are forgetting to ob- are flying north and northeast, heading primarily for tain and sign state and federal migratory bird hunting Prince William Sound, via routes through the Kenai stamps, using lead shot, shooting before legal shooting Mountains, and then to the Gulf of Alaska or to routes hours, and shooting migratory waterfowl while under over British Columbia. power. Although many refuge hunters prefer to jump- For more information on the fall migration, hunt- shoot ducks, I have always preferred to hunt over a ing on Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and migratory large spread of decoys. Knowing how to call ducks or bird hunting regulations, contact refuge headquarters geese certainly doesn’t hurt either, yet calling seems at 262-7021. less critical here. Many Kenai hunters who would call Rick Johnston is a ranger/pilot at Kenai National further south prefer to let the decoys do most of the Wildlife Refuge and is by some accounts a waterfowl work, calling only briefly to attract distant flocks. hunter and poet. For more information about the Refuge, Anybody who has ever hunted late-season mal- visit the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, lards at the Skilak outlet knows that these often- call 262-7021 or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/ hunted and “educated” birds can be as wary as an East refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 69 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 40 • October 26, 2001

How chickadees thrive in the long, cold Alaska winters by Todd Eskelin

As winter approaches, we realize that the chores seeds in special pouches in their esophagus and con- around the house are not quite complete, and there sume the seeds during the night. Since chickadees are is a mad rush to get things in order before the snow basically insect eaters and don’t rely on this method, flies. The birds fly south, the berries ripen, the salmon how do they do it? fishers depart, and then it happens—the first snowfall. A study of chickadees in New York found that they Just we hardy ones are left to enjoy the beautiful dark have a unique ability to reduce their body temperature winters in Alaska. during cold periods from the normal 107.6 to as low as Of all the creatures large and small that stay and 88. This requires less energy, so on cold nights they brave the cold, the most impressive have to be the burn less fuel. (A similar 20-degree drop in body tem- tiny songbirds that live here year-round. They have perature will kill a human being.) no warm house, no heated vehicles and little daylight Heat loss is another important factor for our feath- for feeding. Yet, these fragile birds spend year after ered friends. Many northern wintering birds compen- year surviving sometimes brutal winters, just to breed sate by having more feathers per square inch than again next spring. their southern counterparts. Furthermore, birds do I was banding songbirds in Fairbanks one fall, and not have fleshy appendages like ears, tails and legs that we caught a boreal chickadee that was already banded. can cause mammals problems in colder environments. We checked the records and found that Tom Pogson Bird ears do not stick out, and they are covered with had banded the bird years earlier in Fairbanks. It was feathers to help maintain heat. a new age record for this species. That chickadee had Bird legs are not fleshy, but consist of connective survived more than seven years from the time when it tissues and bones, so frostbite is not a common prob- was first banded. lem. Unlike mammals, many birds have veins and ar- Living in Fairbanks, it had survived at least three teries adjacent to each other, so that the cooled blood cold snaps where the temperature fluctuated between in the veins is actually reheated by the warm blood in minus 30 and minus 50 for three weeks at a time. There the arteries. As a last resort, many birds will shiver, are many incredible cases like this where it seems un- which increases the amount of energy being burned believable that birds could survive a single winter, and by the muscles and helps produce heat. certainly not three such winters in their short lifespan. When we get snow and cold weather this win- How do they do it? There are several adaptations ter, take a second to watch the chickadees and red- that allow them to make it through the cold periods. polls coming to the birdfeeder. Ask yourself what your Due to the long dark periods, it is important that birds chances of survival would be if you were only given a take in and store as much energy as possible for the jacket and some frozen food for the winter. These birds long nights. They eat high calorie foods such as birch are truly amazing and enduring creatures for surviv- seeds. Chickadees are primarily insect eaters, so 60 ing Alaska winters. to 70 percent of their daily diet consists of spiders And the next time you see the neighborhood and frozen caterpillars plucked from the underside of chickadees sitting in the trees and not moving and spruce boughs. looking really cold, don’t worry—they are just chilling People often think the birds would not survive if out! we didn’t provide them with a steady diet of tasty sun- Todd Eskelin is a biological technician at the Kenai flower seeds. Actually, one study in Wisconsin found National Wildlife Refuge. He specializes in birds and has that even during the coldest periods, birdfeeders pro- conducted research on songbirds in many areas of the vided chickadees with no more than 25 percent of their state. For more information about the Refuge, visit the daily energy requirements. Many northern species, headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 such as common redpolls (but not chickadees), store or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

70 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 41 • November 2, 2001

Trapping then and now on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge by Gary Titus

signs of trapper activity from long ago. One summer I noticed an old spruce tree with its lower branches cut off. The long-dead branches, now brittle with age,had been stacked against the trunk to form a “cubby” set— a short tunnel—which probably still attracts an occasional lynx. Looking down at the base of the tree I noticed a trap chain apparently growing out of a tree root nestled in the thick moss and spruce cones of a squirrel midden. As I stepped closer to inspect the chain, I felt two muffled thumps beneath my feet, and realized that I had inadvertently sprung two long-forgotten traps. Following the chain with my hand and a stick, I carefully dug through several layers of spruce cones Beaver trap with a 110 attached to the pole under water and moss until I found two rusted No. 3 leg-hold traps, set up by Amanda Alaniz. the jaws still set until I sprung them. Andrew Berg ran a trap line in this area around A cold north wind blew in the early morning light the turn of the century and had a small shelter cabin as I strapped on my snowshoes. My trail took me nearby. Was this a trap that he had forgotten? across a frozen lake and then into the woods where Leaving a trap set after the close of the season has my trap line started. always been against the law. Berg served as a Terri- As I approached my first set, my anticipation be- torial game warden in Alaska, and no doubt was quite gan to rise. Had a lynx been attracted into the set by familiar with this regulation. So I’d prefer to think that the feathers that I hung in the surrounding branches? this wasn’t one of Andrew Berg’s traps, yet is was lo- Once again, the answer was “No.” Most of the time cated right in the heart of his territory. a trapper’s trap is empty, and that’s where the patience Trapping regulations in Alaska were a long time comes in. in the making, and probably arrived none too soon. I know that I am not the first to trap this stream. An 1898 report on the preservation of fur-bearing an- Nineteenth-century Dena’ina natives from the village imals stated that failure to apply restrictions would of Kenai ran their trap lines by dog team along this work “irreparable injury” to the Alaskan fur trade. The route. The native trappers, and white trappers on Ski- report described the rapidly declining furbearer num- lak and Tustumena Lakes, often ran long trap lines, bers, and blamed this decline on indiscriminate trap- mostly to supplement their meager winter cash sup- ping of animals all year long. ply. The first regulations protecting fur-bearing ani- Trapping has been around for a long time and, like mals in Alaska were approved on April 21, 1910, and today, it has never been a good sole source of income. The Department of Commerce and Labor was to ap- The financial return is usually small; a season’s catch point “fur wardens” to enforce the law. in 1912 would put a modest $350 in a trapper’s pocket. Trappers breaking the fur laws were to be fined not During the rest of the year the early trappers worked less than $200 nor more than $1000; in addition, they in commercial fishing, mining, and big game guiding. could be imprisoned for up to six months, and all of On my patrols through the wilderness of the Kenai their equipment forfeited. The law also prohibited the National Wildlife Refuge I occasionally come across killing of beaver until November 1915.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 71 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 41 • November 2, 2001

One of the first offenders to be cited under this law Tolman was unable to catch him, and so he confis- was King Thurman, an outlaw trapper whose check- cated the dog team and Thurman’s gear. The following ered career has always intrigued me. July, Thurman turned himself in and pleaded guilty, King Thurman had cabins and a trap line in the arguing all the while that he was innocent. He was Chickaloon River region. During the winter of 1913 sentenced to 50 days in jail. he was suspected of shooting a moose and poisoning Nowadays, trappers running trap lines on the Ke- the carcass to use as bait to kill fur-bearing animals. nai Refuge must have a trapping permit, and must at- In March, Game Warden John C. Tolman along with tend a trapper orientation class in order to receive this Deputy Marshal Isaac Evans mushed into the Chick- permit. Each year they must register with the Refuge. aloon area in an attempt to locate Thurman and place In my opinion, most of our trappers hold themselves him under arrest. to a high standard of ethics and safety, and we would They soon found a cabin being used by Thurman ask that visitors respect trap lines in their wintertime and, knowing his suspicious nature, Tolman stayed in travels across the refuge. the cabin and Evans departed. Gary Titus is the Wilderness Ranger and Historian Tolman waited in the cabin for two hours. When at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Refuge Ecologist finally he heard a dog sled pulling up in front, Tolman Ed Berg and Gary Titus will be speaking about tree-ring opened the door and stepped out, only to find the dogs dating of old log cabins and climate change on the Ke- and an unoccupied sled. nai next Nov. 8 at the Kasilof Historical Society meeting Tolman then spotted Thurman about 40 yards scheduled for 7 p.m. at the McLane Center in Kasilof. away watching the cabin. As soon as Thurman saw For more information about the Refuge, visit the head- the game warden, he turned and fled on foot into the quarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or forest. see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

72 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 42 • November 9, 2001

Firewood gathering can be a fun, family activity by Doug Newbould

birch or other hardwood will usually carry me through the winter. I am fortunate enough to have a ready supply of firewood on my property, so I only supplement my woodpile from outside sources when an opportunity for some “easy” firewood presents itself. For example, I have helped more than one friend clear dead trees from around their homes, trading my labor for the free wood. And I really have a hard time passing up an opportunity to get some hardwood. Birch is best, but I like aspen and cottonwood too. Aspen, in case you haven’t tried it, smells great in the wood burner and it burns hot. If you’re new to firewood gathering, let me offer Teamwork with Personal Protective Equipment, photo by a few pointers. Safety is the first key to a successful Todd Weston, USFWS outing in the woods. If you are unfamiliar with the maintenance and safe use of a chain saw, you will need Some of you will probably think I’m crazy when I to get the right personal protective equipment (or PPE, say, “Firewood gathering is fun.” It can be a fun fam- if you like acronyms) and familiarize yourself with op- ily activity… if you can get your family or a friend to erator safety information. Whether you’re bucking up join you, that is. I know that for many readers who use wood on the ground or felling standing trees, you will wood heat as their primary source, firewood gathering need a hardhat (with a wire mesh face shield if pos- is a mandatory subsistence activity. sible), safety glasses or goggles, ear plugs or muffs, Laying up 10 to 20 cords every year can take its toll gloves, work boots (lug soles and steel toes are best) on a body. Even finding that much wood every year and kevlar saw chaps or pants. can be a difficult challenge. Though it may not bring You might think all this safety gear is unnecessary you much joy, at least you can feel a sense of satisfac- and expensive, but I guarantee you it will be cheaper tion and accomplishment when you get that last cord and less burdensome than a visit to the hospital if you laid up for the long winter. touch that running chain to any part of your body, or For people like me who use wood as a secondary you get a splinter in your eye. heat source, firewood gathering is more of a hobby or Learning how to maintain and safely operate a saw recreational activity. I don’t have to hunt or fish or is the next step. Read the chainsaw operator manual collect wood to survive, but those activities enhance that came with your saw, or order one from the man- my life. I enjoy the physical activity, the hard work ufacturer if you don’t have it. Check with your lo- and the results of my labor. cal chainsaw dealer for saw-training opportunities or I take pride in the skills I have gained over the videos. Most of the top chainsaw manufacturers have years—the safe and effective use of a well-maintained excellent safety videos available. I did a quick search chainsaw, the act of felling a 100-foot snag right where for “chainsaw safety” on the Internet and found sev- I aim it, the perfectly aimed swing of the maul as it eral good sites. Check for them at the end of this col- halves the log in one stroke, and the neatness of my umn. firewood pile. I enjoy the aesthetic qualities of awell- And, of course, experience is the best teacher. I’ve managed private forest or wood lot, as I remove dead been using a chainsaw for 25 years and I haven’t lost trees to make room for the seedlings and saplings un- my respect for the tools of the trade or for the wood derneath. For me, four to six mixed cords of spruce and and trees I utilize. I always wear my PPE, and there

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 73 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 42 • November 9, 2001 have been many occasions when I was thankful I did. Contact the Seward Ranger District at 224-3374 or If you are fortunate enough to get your family or a 288-3178 for both free-use and permit-only firewood friend to help you get firewood, make sure you share areas on the Chugach National Forest. The Kenai Na- your safety knowledge with them and get them the tional Wildlife Refuge (262-7021) has a firewood per- PPE they need. mit area off Funny River Road. A five-cord permit Use proper lifting techniques and save your back. costs $25. Permits and maps are available at Refuge Try not to get overheated. Take plenty of breaks and Headquarters on Ski Hill Road during business hours, stay hydrated. Always try to avoid cutting alone. The Monday through Friday. Currently, the state does “buddy system” has saved many a woodcutter’s life. not have any designated firewood-cutting areas on the Now that you’re properly trained and equipped, peninsula. where can you cut some wood? Well, the best oppor- Have fun and be careful out there! tunities for “easy” wood are going to be found on pri- http://www.oregonchain.com/safety.htm vate lands. Check with your friends and neighbors. It is best to have written permission before removing http://www.carbidechain.com/safety.htm wood from private lands. Check the newspaper and Doug Newbould is the Fire Management Officer at local bulletin boards for other private sources. I have the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. For more informa- surveyed some of the public land managers for fire- tion about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill wood opportunities, and there are currently two op- Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at tions. http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

74 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 43 • November 16, 2001

Project Feeder Watch lets backyard birders assist in research by Todd Eskelin

Winter discussion of birds in Alaska often centers every two-week period. on the bird feeder. Just imagine it’s Saturday morn- Also, as a participant, you get to decide how long ing, the temperature is a whopping 3 degrees, and you your survey period will last. You can count all day, are still in your pajamas sipping that first cup of cof- or only count for an hour while you drink your coffee as the sun finally illuminates your back yard. You fee, as long as you count consistently. The excuse “the are watching the assortment of tiny birds wake up and birds are coming and going so fast from my feeder that make their way to your feeder, and you notice that I could never count them,” won’t work using Cornell’s there is a bird at your feeder that you have never seen survey methods. You count only the highest number before. You call up the neighbor and, after a lengthy of birds for each species that you see at any one time. discussion, it is confirmed that you have just seen the There is a $15 fee to sign up, but it is well worth first red-breasted nuthatch at the feeder. the cost. When you sign up, you get a bird identifi- Now, try and imagine that this winter, this same cation poster, with most of the common birds at feed- experience happens to people all across Alaska and ers in the winter, as well as a colorful calendar to help down the West Coast as far south as Klamath Falls, you keep track of your survey days. You also get a Ore. Everyone is seeing their first red-breasted one-year subscription to Cornell’s quarterly newslet- nuthatches at their feeders. Without a network of ter called Birdscope. Most importantly, you receive a pretty talkative neighbors, we would never know that neatly organized kit with data sheets and a handbook this boom of nuthatches has spread over such a large describing everything you ever wanted to know about area (which in fact it has). feeders, from maintaining and cleaning to discourag- Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology has created ing predators from hunting at your feeder. such a network with a program called “Project Feeder Watch.” For 13 years the Cornell lab has been having This is a great opportunity to have a little family participants survey birds at their feeders to document event every other weekend or give your budding ju- the distribution and abundance of winter bird popula- nior scientists a chance to contribute to real research. tions across the country. They can track wintering bird populations across the Last year, more than 15,000 people participated, country by entering their survey data on the Web site but with only 86 contributors from Alaska (eight from and viewing results from other surveyors. the Kenai, Soldotna and Sterling area). Nationally, the If you would like more information about Project project has documented many problems such as dis- Feeder Watch, you can check out the Web site at http: ease outbreaks, as well as population explosions of //birds.cornell.edu/pfw or contact me at the Kenai Na- several species that expanded from interior Canada to tional Wildlife Refuge headquarters at (907) 262-7021. the southern United States. In Alaska we need more Todd Eskelin is a biological technician at the Kenai survey participants to provide data on the deformed- National Wildlife Refuge. He specializes in birds and has bill chickadee problem that has spread across South- conducted research on songbirds in many areas of the central Alaska. state. For more information about the Refuge, visit the One nice thing about this survey is the flexibility. headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 Participants only need to count birds one day during or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 75 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 44 • November 23, 2001

Peninsula’s magical winter wonderland awaits kids of all ages by Nicole Johnson

ice sculpture. Start by cutting the tops off some old plastic containers and filling them with water. Leave the containers outside. When they freeze, you can become the Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci of the North, with an ice castle in your own yard. With the abundance of snow, why not make some delicious snow ice cream? Collect four-five cups of clean snow in a bowl and place in the freezer. Mix a cup of milk, half of a teaspoon of vanilla, and half a cup of sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then slowly add the snow and continually stir until it is as thick as ice cream. Enjoy! My personal favorite is studying the uniqueness and beauty of snowflakes. I put a piece of black Nicole leading a school group and helping the children construction paper in the freezer, and when the flur- experience winter at its finest. ries begin, I make a dash outside and collect the snowflakes on the paper. With a magnifying glassI Many people can’t fathom why we choose to re- can see the fine detail that explains the saying, “No main in Alaska during the winter months. Some folks two snowflakes are the same.” see the season as a lifeless, dreary and depressing time Other options include coming to the Kenai Na- of year. Yet, there are so many things to discover and tional Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center on the weekends explore. for a variety of films, free of charge. The ski trails sur- Even with all the technology that surrounds us, we rounding the visitor center can provide hours of good still seem to have a hard time entertaining ourselves. exercise and wildlife viewing. Feel free to call us at We simply retreat indoors and mimic the natural phe- (907) 262-7021 for film schedules and trail updates. nomenon of hibernation. So when the children are complaining “We’re Whether it is renting movies, watching television bored!” we can take them outside and show them first- or simply sleeping more, we are missing out. There hand the exciting world that surrounds us on the Ke- is a thrilling world outside waiting to be discovered, nai. For kids of all ages, the possibilities of discovery explored and appreciated. are endless if we dress warm and enjoy the magical Everyone knows about the art of building a snow- winter wonderland. man. Some people have it down to an engineering feat Nicole Johnson is the environmental education coor- that would impress the Egyptians. But there are plenty dinator at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. For more of other activities that can spice up the ordinary snow- information about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on man. Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website You can, for example, add some creativity with an at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

76 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 45 • November 30, 2001

Jigsaw Lake shows Central Peninsula was very dry 8600 years ago by Ed Berg

plus from Kenai airport data (back to 1944), and I can see that we shifted into a drier mode after the 1968-69 drought. Prior to this drought we had about 5.8 inches of available water surplus. After 1967, precipitation declined by 1.7 inches and warmer summers raised the evapotranspiration by 1.0 inches, which together reduced the water surplus to 3.1 inches. This is a 47% decrease in available water. These calculations, I admit, are rough. A better approach is to look at water levels in lakes, as “meters” of water surplus. Only closed-basin or land-locked lakes (with no outflow) are suitable climate meters. Lakes with outlets are like over-flowing bathtubs; the Profile of Jigsaw Lake level can stay the same, regardless of any variation in water flow through the lake (at least for small lakes). With closed-basin lakes, however, the water level re- Few people believe me when I tell them that we flects the local groundwater table, which depends on live in a dry climate here on the central Peninsula. The climate, i.e., on the annual water surplus. Kenai airport reports 19 inches of total precipitation per year, which is the same as Fargo, North Dakota. On the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge we have We are in a strong rain shadow from the Kenai Moun- for some time been watching declining water levels tains, and less rain falls as you move toward the moun- in various closed-basin lakes and kettle hole ponds, as tains. For example, the Moose Research Center north- readers of past columns may recall. We have seen wa- east of Sterling gets 17 inches of annual precipitation, ter level drop several feet in closed-basin lakes, and whereas on the other side of the mountains Seward get many former ponds are now grassy pans with invad- 67 inches and Whittier gets a 197 inches. ing spruce. On this side of the mountains, however, the cli- It is interesting to ask if the present drying of the mate is getting drier. The dryness is due to less rain landscape is significant in the grand scheme of things. and snow, as well as increased water loss caused by Is this drying large or small compared to past climate warmer summers. fluctuations on the Peninsula? Ordinarily, this would Water is lost both by direct evaporation from soil be a tough question to answer with any confidence, and water surfaces, and by the vegetation breathing but a new study suggests that our climate could get a out water (transpiration), which together are called whole lot drier than it is now. In a word, we haven’t “evapotranspiration.” I like to think of water in eco- seen anything yet! nomic terms, viewing total precipitation as “income” Last summer a team of geologists examined the and evapotranspiration as “expense” or loss. With sediments in Jigsaw Lake, a 144-acre closed-basin lake money, the bottom line is the net difference between near the end of Swan Lake Road. Like most land- income and loss, i.e., the profit, which is available locked lakes, Jigsaw Lake is extremely poor in nu- for spending. In hydrology the water remaining after trients (due to a small watershed); it has very little evapotranspiration is what really counts. This is the aquatic vegetation and only a few stickleback fish. The “water surplus,” which is available to fund rivers and water level has declined about two feet in the last sev- lakes, groundwater recharge, and biomass growth. eral years. The exposed shore apron is revegetating I have estimated the trend of annual water sur- with sedges, but no woody plants have become estab-

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 77 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 45 • November 30, 2001 lished. the summer and less in the winter. The axis of rota- Geologists Al Werner from Mt. Holyoke College tion was near maximum tilt (24.2 degrees), which in- and Darrell Kaufman from Northern Arizona Univer- creased seasonality. Likewise, the Earth was closest to sity and three students were coring lakes in the An- the Sun in July, rather than in January as at present. Fi- chorage area for volcanic ash layers. (They were pic- nally, the ellipticity of the Earth’s orbit was at a local tured taking samples on their raft in the Anchorage maximum of flatness, which also increased seasonal- Daily News in July.) As a side project they spent three ity. The combined effects added about 6 degrees-F to days taking cores in Jigsaw Lake to look for evidence summer temperatures, and this no doubt greatly in- of past water level changes. The cores were taken with creased evapotranspiration and lake drying. a sixteen-foot length of four-inch PVC pipe driven into If climate was only determined by the orbital pa- the sediments. With this method one looks at series of rameters, we ought to be headed for another ice age, cores from shallow to deep water. By tracing the lay- which should reach its coldest point in about 15,000 ers from one core to the next, it is possible to see where years. It will be 40,000 years before there is another a shoreline has retreated or advanced with falling or warm-summer alignment of the orbital parameters. rising water levels. The dramatic climate warming that we are now see- In Jigsaw Lake, however, the answer was more ob- ing in the northern latitudes is in direct opposition to vious. Grad student Christian de Fontaine has so far the downward trend of the orbital parameters, which analyzed the first core, and found a layer of peat13 should be taking us toward another ice age. Most cli- feet down in the core. This peat is from a peat bog or matologists attribute the present warming trend to the muskeg, with Sphagnum peat moss and sedges. The “greenhouse effect” of added carbon dioxide from fos- geology team took this core in 27 feet of water. This sil fuels. If we are headed for another Hypsithermal means that the water level in the peat bog was at least Period any time soon, it will probably be one of our 40 feet below the present lake level! A radiocarbon own creation. date showed the peat was 8600 years old. There will be more to the Jigsaw Lake story asthe If the lake nowadays is up 40’ from its low point, geologists examine the other cores from last summer. how much higher has the lake gone in the past? Ge- They took one core at the deepest point (46 feet)and ologist Dick Reger and I spent a day with a laser level it should have the full record back to the end of the shooting old shoreline elevations around the lake. The last major glacial period 14,000 years ago, when the highest level was a wave-cut bench at 8.4 feet above lake was formed. I’ll keep readers posted as the story the present water level. This means that we have ev- unfolds. idence of more than 48 feet of water level change in Ed Berg is has been the ecologist at the Kenai Na- this lake. Jigsaw Lake is thus proving to be extremely tional Wildlife Refuge since 1993. He will be discussing climate sensitive! this research in more detail in his one-credit “Cycles of It is well known that the climate in the North- Nature” class at the Kenai Peninsula College, Tuesday ern Hemisphere was distinctly warmer 6000 to 10,000 evenings, March 26 – April 23. Call the College for in- years ago, when Jigsaw Lake was at its low point. This formation (262-0300). For more information about the is called the Hypsithermal Period. The extra warmth Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Sol- was due to a favorable alignment of the Earth’s orbital dotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at http://www. parameters, which produced more solar radiation in fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

78 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 46 • December 7, 2001

Losing one of your own by Robin West

sengers on Flight 43 that prevented what would have almost certainly been a much greater loss of life, property, and social order. Either the White House or Capi- tol was almost certainly the intended target of the hijacked plane. Those who knew Rich well are confident that he was instrumental in the brief but effective fight that ensued on Flight 43. Rich Guadagno was the Refuge Manager for Hum- boldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge in northern Cal- ifornia. He had a 17-year career with the Federal Government, serving both as a biologist and as a refuge manager. For much of his career he was also a commissioned law enforcement officer. Because of his training in apprehension, self-defense, and arrest, and Rich’s strong sense of right and wrong and no- nonsense attitude, it is believed he likely played akey role in the ultimate events of Flight 43. We remember refuge manager Richard Guadagno who Rich had a sense of wonder and appreciation for was lost on United 43. the outdoors that led him to a career with the National Wildlife Refuge System. He started his career as a The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is asmall temporary biologist at Great Swamp National Wildlife agency, as Federal agencies go. I’ve heard this said Refuge in New Jersey. After graduating from Rut- in a variety of ways, such as “the entire Service budget gers University in 1984, and serving a short time as costs less than one MX missile,” and other such com- a wildlife inspector, he returned to Great Swamp as parisons. Well, I don’t know about all of that, but I a refuge manager trainee. From there he moved to do know that in my 23 years with the Service I have Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware, to met many of those that I consider to be part of a rela- Supawana National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey, to tively small family. One of those people was Richard Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge, to Ankeny Guadagno. Rich was one of the several thousand in- National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, and finally to nocent people who died during the terrorist attacks on Humboldt Bay. September 11. Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge consists All 45 people aboard United Airlines Flight 43 of 2,600 acres of California coastal dunes, wetlands, were killed when their plane, after leaving Newark in and bay habitats. It is a major staging area for black route to San Francisco, turned around near Cleveland, brant—a small dark goose—during its migrations be- and then crashed approximately 80 miles southeast of tween nesting areas in Alaska and wintering areas in Pittsburgh. Rich was on that flight, returning hometo Mexico. The Refuge also provides important habitat California after a two-week vacation visiting his sis- for over 100,000 other waterfowl and shorebirds each ter in Vermont and parents in New Jersey where he year. Rich was excited about his job at Humboldt helped celebrate his grandmother’s 100th birthday. We Bay. He served the Refuge, the Refuge System, and now know that this was the hijacked aircraft that was our shared wildlife resource well. Rich also served his not allowed to reach its intended target due to valiant Country well. His name has been added to the Fallen efforts by passengers to thwart the terrorists. While Comrades Memorial Wall at the National Conserva- we will never know exactly what happened, we recog- tion Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. nize that our Nation owes a debt to a handful of pas- His is the 61st name of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 79 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 46 • December 7, 2001 employee that lost their lives in the line of duty. Two vice say good-bye to one of own, with a great sense of other such names include James Petersen and Gerald gratitude. Watson who died on Skilak Lake in 1955. All of these Robin West is the Refuge Manager of Kenai National 61 people are unsung heroes who gave their lives while Wildlife Refuge, one of over 500 refuges found within conducting public service. Rich’s contribution to the the National Wildlife Refuge System. For more infor- conservation of the Nation’s fish and wildlife was wor- mation about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski thy; and his sacrifice on September 11, at only 38 years Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at of age, enormous. We within the Fish and Wildlife Ser- http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

80 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 47 • December 14, 2001

Cycles of nature evident in short walk through wildlife refuge by Ed Berg

After a recent snowfall, I took a midday walkin manicured lawn to a labyrinth of crisscrossed grooved the woods to look at some of the fine points of winter channels. life. Shrews, however, are voracious predators (with a Normally I am zipping along on my skis, often by heart rate of 1,200 beats per minute), and like to eat headlight, and I miss the details. Today, I am checking more than their body weight per day in high-protein out some of the smaller denizens of the woods around food, such as insects, voles and other shrews. A vole’s the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge headquarters. worst nightmare is probably a shrew loose in its tun- Snowshoe hare tracks are abundant, even though nels. we are three years down from the peak of the hare cy- Continuing on my walk, I find many more shrew cle. We have monitored hares by live traps and pellet tracks, but nothing that I can identify as vole tracks. counts since 1983 and have documented a full cycle We have caught four masked shrews in the office in from the 1984 high, through the rock-bottom lows of the last week, so I think that next summer may be a 1988-93, and then the 1996-98 high. big year for shrews—and probably voles as well, be- I soon pick up a shrew track crossing the trail. cause they cycle together. This is just about the most delicate track you canfind The strong boom-and-bust cycles of small mam- in fresh snow. It looks like a necklace, with pairs of mals have long puzzled North Country naturalists. tiny footprints spaced about two inches apart, prob- The 9- to 11-year snowshoe hare (and lynx) cycle is ably made by hopping. The entire track is no more well documented from the Hudson Bay Fur Company than an inch wide, and there is a hint of a tail trace records since the 1840s. Recent studies have used connecting the pairs of footprints. The tracks emerge tree rings in the Yukon to track the hare cycle back from under a stump and run 20 feet before disappear- to the 1750s and have convincingly correlated it with ing into a tunnel in a clump of willow. Down on my sunspot cycles. hands and knees, I can see a few inches into the fragile Just how sunspots might be affecting the hares is snow tunnel. completely unknown, but weather variables (such as In the spring, these tunnels are often revealed for a temperature, air pressure and drought) are strongly few days just as the snow is finally melting off. At that correlated with sunspot cycles in some parts of the time, long runways can easily be followed, where the world. On the Kenai, we see a strong 9- to13-year cy- small mammals, especially voles, have eaten through cle in tree rings in the Tustumena Lake area, which the grass and litter. suggests a sunspot connection. I puzzle about why a shrew or vole would ever I recently had an opportunity to discuss population bother to surface during the winter. They have more cycles with a visiting researcher from the Arctic Insti- tunnels than the Taliban, and basically live in a well- tute field station near Kluane Lake in the Yukon. Eliza- insulated, well-connected world away from the watch- beth Hofer has lived and worked as a wildlife biologist ful eyes of airborne predators. The tracks that I see on in the Yukon for more than 30 years, frequently col- top of the snow are quite businesslike, from point A laborating with Canadian researchers Rudy Boonstra to point B, with no pauses for nibbling or meandering. (University of Toronto) and Charles Krebs (University This is a war zone, and dawdlers may soon besome- of British Columbia). body’s dinner. Liz explained that there are basically two kinds of Not that life in the tunnels is all snugness and theories about population cycles: extrinsic factors (in- warmth. Voles, I suspect, do most of the heavy con- creased predation, overbrowsed plants, diseases, par- struction work. They are basically vegetarians and asites, weather, etc.) and intrinsic factors (something are able to auger through the sod and reduce a well- is “wrong” with the animals). It is well known that

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 81 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 47 • December 14, 2001 predators (e.g., lynx, wolves, hawks and owls) move “maternal effect” in the laboratory by raising vole in and reproduce well during a hare maximum, and no mothers under ideal conditions for several genera- doubt hammer the heck out of the bunnies. tions. Mothers that were captured during a population A similar influx of predators (especially weasels) low phase (and subsequently their offspring) contin- can hammer the voles and shrews during their highs. ued to have reduced reproductive output for the next The Achilles heel of all cycle theories, according to three generations. They had, in fact, about half has Boonstra, is the low phase of the cycle. What keeps many offspring as did mothers—and their progeny— the hares down at rock bottom numbers for two to six captured during a population increase phase. This years, and the small mammals for one to three years, is an extremely strong maternal effect, whatever its after the predators have declined and the vegetation cause may be. With human beings, we recognize that has regrown? “poverty breeds poverty.” But poverty doesn’t gener- Many investigators, including Boonstra and Krebs, ally translate into fewer children, grandchildren and have conducted various predator removal or exclosure great-grandchildren. experiments during the lows of hare and small mam- There is much to be learned about these remark- mal cycles and have found that this protection didn’t able hare and small mammal cycles. Rudy Boon- have any significant effect on critter numbers. At stra posed a very insightful question when he asked, Kluane Lake Boonstra and Krebs artificially fed rabbit what keeps the populations low for so many years, chow to two populations of hares during the 1983-87 when the predation and food pressure is off? Fram- low phase and found that this didn’t help either. It’s ing the question this way naturally suggested focusing like the animals were determined to do poorly, regard- on the animals’ physiological and reproductive con- less of how the experimenters tried to help them. dition. Tracking this condition from one generation Boonstra’s pet hypothesis is that there is some- to the next then led to the “maternal effects” concept. thing wrong with mothers during a population low This is a nice example of how reframing a question can phase. (I hate to see mothers knocked again, but open up an entirely new line of inquiry. the evidence is persuasive!) Boonstra measured various blood factors during an intense decline phase and Ed Berg has been the ecologist at the Kenai National found the animals to be highly stressed by the threat Wildlife Refuge since 1993. He will be discussing this re- of imminent predation. search in more detail in his one-credit ”Cycles of Nature” Combat veterans will find this obvious, but the class at the Kenai Peninsula College, Tuesday evenings, remarkable fact is that the stress effect carries over March 26-April 23. Call the College for information (262- into the offspring and grandoffspring. This is “post- 0300). For more information about the Refuge, visit the traumatic stress syndrome” for the grandchildren and headquarters on Ski Hill Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 beyond. Boonstra demonstrated the existence of a or see the website at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

82 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 48 • December 21, 2001

DNA from poached moose extends long arm of law in refuge by Chris Johnson

I recently taught a class at the National Conser- book. I went to the registered owners’ residence and vation Training Center in West Virginia for new U.S. discovered that they had sold the vehicle that summer. Fish and Wildlife Service Law Enforcement Officers. However, they were able to help me identify the new To liven up the class, I related a moose-poaching case owner of the vehicle. from the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, where I had I went to the residence listed for my new suspect. made some instructive mistakes but still came out al- When I got there, I found out that he had moved out right. a short time before. While I was at the former res- Several students told me that they thought the case idence of the suspect, a red and white Blazer pulled was fascinating and that others might like to hear into the driveway next door. I questioned both sub- about it. jects together. On a late August afternoon several years ago, I was This was my first mistake, as I pointed out tothe patrolling Swan Lake Road, and I contacted a hunter. new student officers. It gave both men a chance to During the course of our conversation he told me that work out their stories together. They said that they the night before, just after dark, he had witnessed two had shot a moose on Swanson River Road earlier in the guys in a red and white Blazer shoot a moose just west season. The location and other details they gave were of the Silver Lake pullout on Swanson River Road on consistent with the information I had at the time. the edge of the large swamp. He said he did not see They claimed that they shot a small bull moose and the moose antlers, just the body of the moose. had left the antlers in the field. They also claimedto Earlier that morning, I had observed a red and have taken all the meat out and said some things that white Blazer, parked near the Silver Lake pullout, and I led me to believe they were not being entirely truth- had recorded the license and location in my notebook. ful with me. I asked them if I could get a meat sample When I came back that afternoon, the Blazer was gone. from the moose, and they told me that all the meat was I attempted to locate the kill site, but did not findit. in Homer. They said they would get me a sample. Two weeks later, I ran into the hunter who had told This was my second mistake. I should have gotten me about the men in the Blazer shooting the moose af- a search warrant for the meat at this time. ter dark. He asked me if I had ever found that moose Two weeks went by, and the hunters still had not kill that he had told me about earlier. I told him I delivered the meat sample. I called them again, and hadn’t, and he said that after he talked to me, hehad they said they did not know when they would get to gone back to the kill site and found that the men had Homer for the meat. left a front quarter and a set of ribs. He then salvaged An hour after talking to them, one of the men the meat and took it home. called and said that he had picked up the meat and He said, “The only thing left at the kill site wasa wanted to drop off a sample. I found it a little strange gut pile and one front leg from the distal joint to the that they all of a sudden had the meat with them. hoof.” Anyway, I took their meat sample, and the samples He then gave me better directions on where to find from the hunter who had picked up the front quarter, the kill site. He had not reported his find to anybody and my sample from the kill site, and sent them all to because he had picked up the abandoned moose meat. the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in With the better directions, I found the site. There was Ashland, Oregon. an old gut pile and one moose leg from the distal joint The forensics lab is the only full-service wildlife down. I collected tissue samples. forensics laboratory in the world. The lab can make I did a vehicle registration check on the red and species identification, gender identification and even white Blazer license that I had recorded in my note- can identify individual animals by DNA “fingerprint-

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 83 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 48 • December 21, 2001 ing” of body tissues submitted for evidence by fed- After their meal, the campers broke camp and eral, state and international wildlife law enforcement dumped the remaining, uneaten chili on the ground. agencies. The lab works just like a police crime lab, I then collected the meat from the chili. I sent sam- matching the suspect, the victim and the crime scene ples of the meat to the forensics lab to be compared through examination of physical evidence of all types. with the previous samples. The lab concluded through The forensics lab concluded through DNA analysis and DNA analysis that the chili meat was a cow moose. serology examination that all three samples were from They further concluded that the chili meat was from moose. My sample collected from the kill site and the the same cow moose as the samples collected from the sample taken from the front quarter picked up by the kill site on Swanson River Road and the meat from the reporting hunter came from the same animal—a cow front quarter picked up by the hunter. moose. The sample given by the suspects came froma There were several mistakes made in this investi- bull moose. gation that almost closed the case, but with a little luck At the time I thought this was the end of my case, and some good DNA, I was able to muddle through it. I but the story continues. issued citations, the fines were paid, and lessons were Five months later, while on routine patrol on the learned by all involved, not the least being myself. Kenai River near the inlet to Skilak Lake, I observed the suspects from the moose case camping and fish- Chris Johnson is a law enforcement officer at the ing. I observed one of the suspects take a package of Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. For more information meat wrapped in freezer paper out of his backpack and about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill start cooking the meat. The camper proceeded to make Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at chili. http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

84 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 49 • December 28, 2001

Unusual mammal may be roaming woods of peninsula by Ted Bailey

a weasel. It was a “least weasel,” known to science as Mustela nivalis, the smallest living weasel. I had seen several least weasels years ago while working in the Midwest. They were captured incidentally in small live traps set out by a graduate student that I knew, who was capturing mice and voles for a research project. One least weasel that he caught died in the trap. I ob- tained the tiny carcass to make a study skin and to save the skull. The least weasel is not the same as the short- tailed weasel, or ermine—Mustela erminea—that we occasionally see and that trappers catch on the Kenai Peninsula. It is much smaller than the attractive ermine. An adult male ermine is about 13 inches long with a long tail, 30 to 45 percent as long as its body. An ermine’s fur turns white in the winter, but the tip Least weasel photographed by Kevin Law, posted on of the tail remains black. White ermine fur is a fur Flicker http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp? of nobility in England, and British justices and peers recNum=MA0453. traditionally wear white ermine pelts. By contrast, an adult male least weasel is only Several years ago, I am 99 percent certain that I about 10 inches long and has a much shorter tail, only saw a mammal not previously recorded—to the best of 25 percent as long as its body. Like ermine, least my knowledge—on the Kenai Peninsula. It was in the weasels in the north also turn white in the winter, but early fall with a light dusting of snow on the ground. their short tails are completely white without a black I was in a vehicle with a witness when this unex- tip. pected mammal ran into the middle of the road and Least weasels are the champion vole and lemming stopped briefly to stare at the truck. I got a good look catchers among mammals because their tiny snake- at it. I had seen one like it more than 30 years ago, like bodies enable them to follow the small prey in- thousands of miles away. Although this mammal is side their underground and undersnow tunnels. Least apparently widespread throughout mainland Alaska, weasels are usually found near grassy areas where I could find no museum record of it from the Kenai meadow and tundra voles are common, but they would Peninsula. But its distribution maps are shaded on the be adept at catching red-backed voles—the most com- Kenai Peninsula, indicating its expected presence. mon vole–in our area. You may be asking, what was this strange mam- Over the years I have had several people report mal? A mountain lion? A flying squirrel? seeing “baby” weasels on the Kenai Peninsula. But No, this was a very small mammal—the smallest of without physical evidence, I was uncertain whether its family. My first impression when I saw it dart out they were indeed baby ermine or the least weasel. Fur of the brush was that it was an extremely large red- trappers are unlikely to capture least weasels, because backed vole. But when it stopped in the middle of the these weasels are so small that their light weight is un- road and raised its almost snake-like head, I knew that likely to trigger a trap. Unlike ermine, least weasels it was no red-backed vole. are not sought for their fur value. This small mammal had a very long neck, short feet I thought about reporting my observation to the and short tail, and it loped across the road like a little University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks, but muse- weasel. As a matter of fact, I am almost certain itwas ums like to deal in physical evidence, i.e., specimens,

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 85 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 3, No. 49 • December 28, 2001 not observations. So let me address an appeal to our name will be recorded for posterity in the museum’s readers for some hard evidence. If your cat or dog records. brings a dead small weasel with a short tail to your Ted Bailey is a recently retired wildlife biologist who doorstep, or if you catch such a tiny weasel in a trap, has worked on the Kenai Peninsula for more than 25 please save it and bring it to the refuge office. years, primarily at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. A small weasel will easily fit into a Ziploc bag, He maintains a keen interest in the Kenai Peninsula’s which can be stored in a freezer. Record the date and wildlife and natural history. For more information location on the bag. Refuge biologists will confirm its about the Refuge, visit the headquarters on Ski Hill identity. If it is a least weasel, they will send it to the Road in Soldotna, call 262-7021 or see the website at University of Alaska Museum in Fairbanks, and your http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/.

86 USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge